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Works of 

Sidney C. Grier 

The Warden of the Marches 

Peace with Honour 

Like Another Helen 

His Excellency's English Governess 

In Furthest Ind 

A Crowned Queen 

Kings of the East 

The Prince of the Captivity 

4 

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY 
200 Summer Street, Boston, Mass, 






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“SIXJAJ Kll.rx SAHIB BAHADAK HIDES TO-NI(iHT 


j)c ^arljm of 


By 

SYDNEY C. GRIER 

AUTHOR OF “PEACE WITH HONOUR,” 
“LIKE ANOTHER HELEN," “IN 
FURTHEST IND,” Etc. 






BOSTON 

L. C. PAGE COMPANY 


M DCCCCII 



Copyright, igo2 
By ly. C. Page & Company 

(Incorporated) 


3 S fc> / f- 
*- 03 , 

Published June, 1902 


CHAP. PAOB 

I. THE COMING OP QUEEN MAS • • . 1 

n. “life is real; life is earnest” , .14 

ra. “in his simplicity sublime” , . .25 

IV. THE OUTSIDER ..... 37 

V. ROSE OP THE WORLD . ... 48 

VI. LA BELLE ALLIANCE . . • .61 

VII. NONE BUT THE BRAVE .... 73 

Vin. WITNESS POR THE PROSECUTION , . . 84 

IX. WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL . 96 

X. GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND . Ill 

XI. BEHIND THE CURTAIN .... 123 

XII. HONOUR AND DUTY .... 135 

XIII. ONE NIGHT ...... 150 

XIV. TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING . . .164 

XV. “the old FIRST HEROIC LESSONS ” . , 177 

XVI. THE DARKEST HOUR . . • ,189 

XVII. THE LUCK OP THE BABA SAHIB . . , 204 

218 


XVin. AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION 


n 


CONTENTS, 


XIX. AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION . 

XX. THE FORCES OP NATURE . 

XXI. THE DEAD THAT LIVED , 

XXII. THE FIRE ON THE HILL , 
CXm. AN ABDICATION , , 


. 233 

. 249 

. 264 

. 279 

. 295 

. 309 


ixrv. WHAT ZEYNAB SAW 


ILLUSTRATIONS, 


42 


PAOB 

“ sinjXj kIlin sahib bahadar rides to-night ” Frontispiece 

“MABEL STEPPED FORWARD, AND MET THE GLANCE OP 
THE BOLD EYES UNDER THE GREEN TURBAN ” 

“fITZ caught THE LOOK OP AGONY IN BRENDON’s 
FACE 

“look after my wipe WHILE I’M AWAY” . . 

“he rides” ...... 

“stretching out his hand for the pistol”. • 


78 *" 

148 *^ 

198 '^ 

324 


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THE WAEDEN OE THE MAECHES. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE COMING OP QUEEN MAS. 

“ Then the mail’s in, Georgie 1 ” 

“Yes, Dick; it came in about haK-an-hour after you 
started. Here are your letters.” 

Major North threw himself luxuriously into a long cane 
chair, and held out his hand for the bundle of envelopes 
and papers which his wife gave him. “Anything from 
Mab ? ” he asked. 

“Just a little scrap. Dick, I am getting dreadfully 
worried about her — her letters have been so strange for 
such a long time, and now the writing is so queer. She 
always seems as if she hadn’t a moment to spare, and yet 
she really has nothing particular to do now. Do you know, 
I am beginning to be afraid that the strain of your uncle’s 
illness, and the shock of his death, have been too much for 
her. I am sure she oughtn’t to be living all alone in that 
big house. I asked Cecil EgertOn to look after her, and I 
hoped to hear from her to-day, but there is no letter. 
Aren’t you getting anxious yourseH?” Major North, deep 
in his correspondence, grunted assent. “ What do you 
think we had better do ? Dick ! — why, Dick ! ” 

The letters went flying as Dick sprang up from his chair. 
His wife was staring incredulously at a young lady in a 
grey riding-habit who was cantering up the rough track, 
called by courtesy a drive, leading to the house from the 
gateway of the compound. Catching sight of the two 
figures on the verandah the new-comer pulled vr her horse 
suddenly, flung the bridle to the magnificent elJterly servant 

A 


2 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


who ran out from the hall-door to meet her, and slipping 
from her saddle, mounted the steps with a run. 

“ Oh, Dick ! oh, Georgie ! oh, my dear people, it is so 
good to see you again ! Don’t tear me in pieces between 
you.” Her brother and his wife, dumb with astonishment, 
were both kissing her at once. “ It is my real self, you 
know, and not my astral body. Now do say you are 
surprised to see me on the Khemistan frontier when 
you imagined I was in London ! Don’t rob me of the 
gratification I have come so far to enjoy.” 

“Surprise is no word for it. We are utterly amazed, 
completely flabbergasted,” said Dick slowly. His sister 
heaved a satisfied sigh. 

“Thanks, Dick; I’m so glad. I did want to surprise 
you.” 

“ But, Mab, are you really only just off your journey ? ” 
cried Georgia. “You must have a bath and a rest before 
you talk any more.” 

“I come untold thousands of miles to see my only re- 
maining relatives, and they don’t think me fit to speak to 
until I have had a bath and a rest ! ” cried Mabel. “No, 
Georgie, we only did a very short stage to-day, so that we 
might arrive clean and comfortable. You don’t think Mr 
Burgrave would omit anything that would enable him to 
make a more dignified entrance into Alibad ^ ” 

“You don’t mean to say that you came up with the 
Commissioner ? ” cried Dick and Georgia together. 

“ Bather ! ” A glance passed between husband and wife, 
and Mabel caught it. “Now, why this thusness? I had 
a chaperon, I assure you. I’ll tell you all about it. And 
the Commissioner has been most kind — and patronising.” 

“Probably,” said Dick dryly. “And was it Burgrave 
who escorted you to the gate here ? ” 

“ Oh no ; it was that nice boy who went to Kubbet-ul- 
Haj with you eight years ago.” 

“ Boy ! ” cried Georgia. “ My dear Mab, Fitz Anstruther 
is one of the most rising young civilians in the province.” 

“And he said,” went on Mabel, unheeding, “that he 
would look in again after dinner. Well, Georgie, he is 
three years younger than I am, at any rate. Now, Dick, 
don’t be rude and say that that wouldn’t make him so very 
young after all. I know I’m in the sere and yellow leaf. 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAB. 


3 


The fact was borne in upon me when I heard an angry 
woman on the voyage informing her cabin-mates that I 
was ‘ no chicken.’ ” 

“What!” cried Dick. “Then the celebrated smile has 
been doing its deadly work as usual 1 How many scalps 
this time, Mab % ” 

Mabel smiled gently. It might be perfectly true, as 
other women were never tired of saying, that she had no 
claim to be called beautiful. The most that could be said 
of her was that she was nice-looking, and the effect of 
that (it was often added spitefully) was spoilt by the singu- 
lar and most unpleasing combination of fair hair with dark 
brown eyes. But when the ladies had said their say, Mabel 
knew that she had but to smile to bring every man in the 
neighbourhood to her feet. There was a peculiar fascina- 
tion about her smile which made a slave of the man upon 
whom it shone. It called forth all that was best in him, 
roused aU the chivalry of his nature, and compelled him to 
devote himseK to Mabel’s service. Various irate London 
cabmen, an elderly guard on the Caledonian Railway, and 
the magistrate who found himself obliged to fine Mabel for 
allowing her fox-terrier to go about unmuzzled, were among 
the victims. The magistrate was currently reported to have 
apologised privately for doing his duty, and to have been 
abjectly desirous of paying the fine out of his own pocket 
if Mabel would have allowed it. It was commonly under- 
stood that General North, Mabel’s late guardian, had found 
his life a burden to him owing to the multitude of her 
suitors, and that he would scarcely allow her to go out 
alone lest any unwary stranger, thanked with a smile for 
some slight service, should be impelled to propose to her on 
the spot. 

“Well, Mab,” said Dick again, as his sister did not 
answer, “the voyage was the usual triumphal progress, I 
suppose ? Any casualties % ” 

“No duels or suicides, Dick. The days of chivalry are 
gone, you know. But every one was very nice. I don’t 
count the officers — it’s their business to make themselves 
pleasant — but the captain took me into his cabin and showed 
me the pictures of Mrs Captain and the little Captains, and 
I was told he didn’t do that for everybody. The ladies 
were not quite as friendly as — well, as I should have liked 


4 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


them to be. They talked me over a good deal, too. Once 
they asked a rather nice boy why he and all the rest thought 
such a lot of me. He couldn’t think of anything to say but 
that I was ‘ so awfully feminine, don’t you know ? ’ When 
he thought of it afterwards he was rather pleased with 
him self, and came and told me. It wasn’t bad, was it ” 

“ Oh, Mab ! ” said Georgia reproachfully. 

“ But, Georgie, you wouldn’t have me unfeminine, would 
you 1 ” 

“ Ha, ha ! ” laughed Dick. “ Well, Mab, as you have 
got here safely, I suppose your friends were as helpful as 
your friends generally are ? ” 

“ They were perfectly delightful. When we got to Bom- 
bay they helped me about my luggage, and told me the 
right hotel, and where to get an ayah and a servant, and 
how to go to Bab-us-Sahel. To crown all, they found me 
the chaperon I told you about — who turned out to be the 
elderly lady who had disapproved of me most frankly of all 
on the voyage. Her name is Hardy, and she was coming 
to join her husband here. She is devoted to you, Georgie.” 

‘‘Dear old Mrs Hardy"? I should think she was. It’s 
mutual.” 

“Well, tastes differ. She is quite certain that I shall 
come to a bad end. We didn’t speak very much on the 
way to Bab-us-Sahel, and when we got there I was horrified 
to find what a journey we had still before us. I knew the 
railway hadn’t got to you yet, but I thought it would only 
mean perhaps a day in a palanquin, with tigers and interest- 
ing tlungs like that jumping out of the jungle every few 
minutes, and brave rescuers turning up in the very nick of 
time to save one. I never imagined there would be days 
and days of riding through a desert, with no jungle and no 
tigers at all. Happily we fell in with Mr Burgrave when 
we left the railway, and as he was coming here he invited 
us to travel with his party in royal state, which we did. 
Mrs Hardy quarrelled with him most days on some pretext 
or other for your sakes, which' I didn’t think nice of her 
when she was enjoying his hospitality. She seemed to 
be convinced that everything he did was bound to bring 
the province to destruction.” Again Dick and Georgia ex 
changed glances. “ Dick, what is wrong between you and 
Mr Burgrave ? I insist on knowing.” 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAR 5 

“ It’s unusual to find two men absolutely agreed on ques- 
tions of policy,” said Dick shortly. 

“ Well, just at present he has a grudge against you on 
my account. He considers you guilty of culpable negli- 
gence in leaving such a delicate and valuable piece of goods 
to find its way to Alibad unassisted. I tried to point out 
that the blame was entirely due to the wicked wilfulness of 
the piece of goods in question, but he still thinks you sadly 
callous.” 

“We haven’t heard yet what has brought her Majesty 
Queen Mab to Alibad at all.” 

“No, that’s another story. (Don’t you admire my local 
colour ?) Here followeth the confession of Mabel Louisa 
North. I had a great idea, Georgie, a splendid idea, when 
imcle died and I was left alone. I thought I would become 
a Medical, so as to come out in time and help you. I knew 
you would jeer, Dick, and try to dissuade me, so I decided 
not to say a word until I was fairly embarked on my 
triumphal career. I was going to take the London Matric. 
in January, and when I was entered at the School of Medi- 
cine I meant to burst out into sudden blaze and wire you 
the astonishing news. But the whole thing missed fire 
horribly. You may laugh, Georgie, for I dare say you 
have kept your mind supple, like that old man who said 
he was always learning; but you don’t know how fright- 
fully difficult it is to bring your mighty intellect down again 
to lessons when you haven’t done any for years and years. 
Would you believe it ? — I broke down under the stress of 
the preparation — for the Matric.^ mind — and my eyes gave 
out. No, it is nothing really bad ” — as Georgia uttered a 
horrified exclamation — “Sir William Thornycroft pledged 
himself that they would soon be all right again if I gave up 
work and took to frivolling.” 

“But if there’s nothing the matter with them, I can’t 
think why he didn’t tell you to rest for a month or so, and 
let you go on again with glasses,” said Georgia. 

Mabel looked a little ashamed. 

“ Well, the fact is, I made rather a baby of myseK. I 
couldn’t wear glasses, Georgie — think what a guy I should 
look ! And you can’t imagine how disappointed I was. I 
knew that the loss of a month’s work*, would mean that 
I should fail, and I was feeling very miserable altogether, 


6 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


after weeks of awful headaches, and my eyes hurt so, and — 
and — I wailed a little. Sir William was most sweet, and 
asked me all about it; and then he said that he really didn’t 
think the Medical was what I was best fitted for, and he 
advised me to travel for a little while and forget all about it.” 

“ And not give up to medicine what was meant for man- 
kind,” murmured Dick softly. 

“ And she comes out here, where we have an eye-destroy- 
ing glare all the year round, and dust-storms two or three 
times a week, to cure her eyes ! ” cried Georgia. 

“My beloved Georgiana, I came here that you might 
minister to a mind diseased. When once the thought had 
flashed upon me, I simply couldn’t stay in England. I just 
flew round to the shops and bought whatever they showed 
me, and started as soon as I could settle matters at home 
and take my passage. I went on writing to you up to the 
very last minute. I shouldn’t wonder if the letter I posted 
on my way to the docks travelled in the steamer with me. 
Is that it there ? Well, have I explained matters ? ” 

“It was an awful risk, Mab,” said Dick in an elder- 
brotherly tone. We might have been both ill, or out in the 
district, or touring in Nalapur, or anything.” 

“But you weren’t, you see, so it’s all right. I had an 
inspiration that you’d be in your own house for Christmas. 
What time is dinner ? Lend me a warm tea-gown, Georgie. 
How cold it gets here when the sun sets, and yet we were 
nearly roasted this morning ! My belongings were to follow 
in a buUock-cart or two, but I haven’t heard them arrive. 
Oh, it is sweet to see you two again, and looking so 
thoroughly happy and fit, too.” 

She bestowed a kiss on the top of Dick’s head, remarking 
as she did so that he was getting disgracefully bald, and 
rushed away to lavish a series of hugs on Georgia in the 
privacy of her own room. Her toilet did not take long 
when she was left alone, and she threw over her head the 
white shawl Georgia had left with her, and stepped out on 
the verandah. There was only a faint gleam of moonlight, 
and a sense of the vastness and dreariness of the desert 
around crept over her as she tried to distinguish in the 
blackness the lights of the Alibad cantonments, through 
which she had passed in the afternoon. The wind was chiU, 
and gathering her wrap more closely round her, she turned 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAB. 


7 


to find her way back to the drawing-room. As she did so, 
the sound of a horse’s footsteps struck upon her ear. Some 
one was riding past the house at no great distance, riding 
at a smart pace, which caused a clatter of accoutrements 
and an occasional sharp metallic ring when the horse’s hoofs 
came in contact with a rock. 

“ How horrid it must be riding in the dark ! ” said 
Mabel to herself. “ Dick,” she cried, meeting her brother 
in the hall, “ are you expecting any one to dinner ? Some 
one is coming here on horseback.” 

“Oh no, it’s no one for us,” he answered shortly. 

“ But where can he be going, then ? I thought this was 
the la,st English house on the frontier “? It’s a soldier, I’m 
sure, for I heard his sword knocking against the stirrup, 
or whatever it is that makes the clinkety-clanking noise.” 

“ I can’t tell you who it is, for I don’t know, but the 
natives will tell you, if you are particularly anxious to 
hear. They say it’s General Keeling.” 

“ Georgia’s father 1 But he’s dead ! ” 

“Exactly.” 

“ But do you mean that it’s his ghost 1 ” 

“ Don’t talk so loud. I don’t want Georgia worried just 
now, and she may not have noticed the sound. The natives 
say that whenever there is going to be trouble on the fron- 
tier St. George Keeling gallops from point to point to see 
that things are all right, just as he would have done in his 
lifetime.” 

“ Oh, but they don’t believe it really ^ ” 

“You shall see. Ismail Bakhsh ! ” The old chaprasi who 
had met Mabel at the door came forward, gorgeous in his 
scarlet coat and gold badge, and saluted. “Tell the Miss 
Sahib who it is she hears, out beyond the far corner of the 
compound.” 

The old man drew himself up and saluted again. 
“Sinjaj Kilin Sahib Bahadar rides to-night. Miss Sahib.” 

“ Oh, how dreadful ! ” said Mabel, turning to her 
brother with a blanched face. Ismail Bakhsh understood 
her words. 

“ Nay, Miss Sahib, it is well, rather. When the day 
comes that there is trouble on the border, and Kilin Sahib 
does not ride, then the reign of the Sarkar will be ended in 
KKemistan, and it may be in all Hindustan also.” 


8 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ That will do, Ismail Bakhsh,” said Dick, when he had 
interpreted the old man’s words. “ Come into the drawing- 
room, Mab.” 

“But, Dick, it can’t be true? Isn’t some one playing a 
trick ? ” 

“ We have never been able to bring it home to any one if 
it is a trick. Anstruther and I have watched in vain, and 
most of the fellows from the cantonments have had a try 
too. We heard just what you hear, but we could never see 
anything.” 

“Dick, I think you are most awfully brave.” Mabel 
shuddered as she pictured Dick and his friend approaching 
the sound, locating it exactly, perhaps — oh, horror ! — hear- 
ing it pass between them, while still there was nothing to 
be seen. “Does it — he — ever come any nearer? How 
fearful if he should ride up to the door ! ” 

“ Why, Mab, you don’t mean to say you believe in it ? ” 
Dick looked at her curiously. “It’s quite true that the 
sound is heard when there’s going to be trouble, for I have 
noticed it time after time ; but I have a very simple theory 
to account for that. When the tribes living beyond this 
stretch of desert intend to make themselves disagreeable, 
they send mounted messengers to one another. The desert 
air carries sound well, and I’m not prepared to say that 
these rocks here may not have some peculiar property 
which makes them carry sound well too, but at any rate 
we hear, as if it was quite close, what is actually happening 
miles and miles away.” 

“ Oh, do you really think so ? ” Mabel was much cheered. 
“ But then, why should Georgia be frightened if she heard 
it?” 

“Because of the trouble it foreshadows, which is a sad 
and sober reality, not on account of the supernatural story 
the natives have taken it into their heads to get up.” 

Georgia’s entrance and the announcement of dinner 
banished the disquieting topic, and Mabel’s creepy sensa- 
tions vanished speedily under the influence of the light and 
warmth and brightness encompassing the meal, so eminently 
Western and ordinary in its appointments save for the 
presence of the noiseless Hindu servants. Old times and 
scenes were discussed by the three, and family jokes re- 
called with infinite zest, in momentary entire forgetfulness 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAB. 


9 


of the turbulent frontier and the haunted desert outside. 
Shortly after a move had been made into the drawing-room, 
however, the flow of reminiscences was interrupted by the 
entrance of Dick’s subordinate, the handsome young civilian 
who had escorted Mabel to her brother’s door. He walked 
in unannounced, as one very much at home. 

“ With Dr. Tighe’s compliments to the rival practitioner,” 
he said, handing a copy of the Lancet to Georgia. “I 
shall pass the Doctor’s quarters going home, Mrs North, 
so I can leave your British Medical for him if you have 
done with it.” 

“I will put it out for you,” said Georgia. “You have 
seen Miss North already, I think V’ 

“Yes, indeed. It was this afternoon that I had the 
astonishment and delight of learning that the Kumpsioner 
Sahib had atoned for all his sins against this frontier.” 

“ What, does Burgrave climb down % ” cried Dick. 

“Not a bit of it. Major. He’s on the war-path, and 
seeing red. But he has escorted Miss North safely 
here.” 

“Oh, is Mr Burgrave anxious for war^’ asked Mabeh 
“I suppose that’s the trouble which is coming on the 
frontier, then % ” She stopped suddenly, with a guilty 
glance at Georgia. * 

“Never min^ Mab; I heard it,” said her sister-in-law 
quietly. 

“I should think so!” cried Fitzgerald Anstruther. 
“The old joker — beg your pardon, Mrs North — the old 
ch — General — was riding like mad. No, Miss North, war 
is the last thing that our most peaceful-minded Commis- 
sioner desires. He is coming to bring this benighted pro- 
vince up to date, and assimilate it to the well-governed 
districts he has known hitherto.” 

“ After all, we can’t be sure of his intentions,” said 
Georgia. “ "V^at we have heard may be only rumour.” 

“No; he is on the war-path, Mrs North, as I said. 
Young Timson, of the Telegraphs, who came up with him, 
was in with me just now, and says that he talked quite 
openly of his plans.” 

“ I don’t mind the man’s intentions,” cried Dick hotly, 
“if they are founded on an honest opinion. What I do 
mind is his talking of them to outsiders as if they were 


10 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


accomplished facts, before he has said a word to the men 
on the spot.” 

“ Oh, but you forget that the Commissioner’s intentions 
are as good as accomplished facts, Major,” said Fitz. “ ‘ Is 
it not already done. Sahib ? ’ as my old villain of a bearer 
says when I tell him to do something he has no idea of 
doing. 

“ ‘ For the Khans must come down and Amirs they must frown 
When the Kumpsioner Sahib says “ Stop ” I 
(Poor beggars 1 — we’re here to say “ Stop ” !) ’ 

aren’t we? ” he added dolefully. “ Timson says that Burgrave 
is particularly strong on cutting loose from Nalapur.” 

“ Oh, do explain these technicalities a little ! ” pleaded 
Mabel. Her brother took up the task promptly, seeming 
to find in it some sort of relief to his feelings. 

“ I suppose you know that Khemistan has always been 
governed on a plan of its own ? When it was first annexed 
Georgia’s father was put in charge of this frontier, which 
was then the wildest, thievingest, most lawless place in 
creation. He raised the Khemistan Horse, and used them 
indiscriminately as troops and police. Small parties were 
stationed all along the frontier, and they were ready to 
march in any direction, day or night, at the news of a raid 
or a scrimmage. Within a few years the frontier was quiet, 
and General Keeling kept it so. He had his own methods 
of doing it, and the Government didn’t always agree with 
them, wherefore he ragged the Government, and the Govern- 
ment snubbed him, horribly. However, he held on to his 
post, and died at it, and then the bad old days began again. 
That was just before I came up here, and I found that the 
people looked back to Sinjaj Kilin’s days as a kind of 
Golden Age ” 

“Oh, Dick, they do still,” cried Mabel. “It makes poor 
Mr Burgrave so vexed. He told me that whenever an old 
chief comes to pay his respects, the first thing he asks is 
always whether the Commissioner Sahib knew Sinjaj Kilin. 
He got so tired of it at last that he said he would have 
given worlds to shout, ‘ Thank goodness, tio !*” 

“ Don’t doubt it for a moment. Well, they tried to 
govern Khemistan on the lines of the province next door, 
which has always been in the hands of the opposition 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAB. 


11 


Bchool. Result — confusion, and all but civil war. Most of 
St. George Keeling’s young men gave up in disgust, and 
the Amir of Nalapur, just across the frontier, who had been 
the General’s firm ally, was goaded into enmity. That was 
the state of things five years ago.” 

“ And then,” said Georgia, “ dear old Sir Magnus Pater, 
who was Commissioner for Khemistan in my father’s time, 
used all his influence to get Dick appointed Frontier 
Superintendent. It was the last thing he did before he 
retired, and we were thankful to leave Iskandarbagh, and 
to get back to our very own country.” 

“And in less than no time,” put in Fitz, “the frontier 
was quiet, thanks to a judicious revival of General Keeling’s 
methods, and the Amir of Nalapur was assuring Major 
North that he was his father and his mother. Mrs 
North’s fame as a physician of supernatural powers, and the 
Major’s military discipline, have worked wonders in crushing 
the proud and extorting the respectful admiration of the 
submissive.” 

“ Oh, that reminds me ! ” cried Mabel. “ Georgie, do yon 
write Dick’s reports for him 1 Mr Burgrave really believes 
you do.” 

(“Oh, Miss North, what an injudicious question!” 
murmured Fitz, sotto voce.) 

“Certainly not,” returned Georgia briskly. “Do you 
think I would encourage Dick in such idleness? We write 
them together.” 

“But,” objected Mabel, “I can’t see why Mr Burgrave 
should come to disturb all you have done if you have got 
on so well.” 

“ O wise young judge ! ” said Dick. “ That’s exactly 
what we can’t see either.” 

“ Because he is tired of hearing General Keeling alluded 
to as the best feared, and loved, and hated man in Anglo- 
Indian history,” said Fitz. “ Because to see your next-door 
neighbour succeeding where you have failed, by dint of 
methods which you regard with holy horror, is distasteful 
to the natural man. But let me tell you a little story. 
Miss North — an Oriental apologue, full of local colour. 
The ruler of many millions was glancing over the map of 
his dominions one morning, when his symmetry-loving eye 
lit upon one province governed differently from all the rest. 


12 


THE WAEDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


To him, imperiously demanding an explanation, there enters 
Eustace Burgrave, Esq., of the Secretariat, C.S.I. and other 
desirable things, armed with a beautifully written minute 
on the subject, and points out that the province is not only 
a scandal and an eyesore, but a happy hunting-ground for 
firebrand soldier-poHticals who know better than viceroys — 
a class of persons that obviously ought to be stamped out 
in the interests of good government. Any remedies for 
this atrocious state of things? Naturally, Mr Burgrave is 
prepared with measures that will make Khemistan the 
garden of India and a lasting memorial of the ruler’s happy 
reign. No time is wasted. ‘ Take the province, Burgrave,’ 
says the Great Great One, with tears of emotion, ‘ and my 
blessing with it,’ and Burgrave accepts both. Hitherto he 
has been reforming the course of nature down by the river, 
now he comes up here to teach us a lesson in our turn.” 

“ And do you mean to let him do what he likes ? ” cried 
Mabel. 

“Nonsense, Mab ! He is supreme here,” said Dick. 

“Besides, Miss North,” Fitz went on, “ the Commissioner’s 
imposing personality puts opposition out of the question. 
You must have noticed the condescending loftiness of his 
manner, springing from the assurance that his career will 
be in the future, as in the past, a succession of triumphs. 
Failure is not in his vocabulary. He is bom for greatness. 
Who could see that cold blue eye, that monumental nose, 
and doubt it? Nothing short of a general convulsion of 
nature could disturb the even tenor of his way.” 

“Well, I am not quite sure of that,” said Mabel 
musingly. 

“ Oh, I’m afraid there’s no hope of him as a lady’s man, 
if that’s what you mean. Miss North. It is understood 
that he’s by no means a hardened misogynist, but neither 
is he looking for a wife. He is simply waiting quite dis- 
passionately to see whether the feminine counterpart of his 
perfections will ever present herself. Year after year at 
Calcutta and Simla he has surveyed the newest young 
ladies out from home and found them wanting, and their 
mothers go away into corners and call him names, which is 
unjust. His fitting mate would scarcely appear once in a 
lifetime, perhaps not in an age.” 

“ I think Mr Burgrave needs a lesson,” said Mabel. 


THE COMING OF QUEEN MAB. 


13 


“But consider, Miss North. It is no obscure future that 
the favoured damsel will be called upon to share. In time 
she will clothe her jampanis at Simla in scarlet, and by- 
and-by, if she does what he tells her, she will sport the 
Crown of India on a neat -coloured ribbon.” 

“ I think it will be well for me to take him in hand,” 
Mabel persisted. 

“For goodness’ sake, Mab, don’t make matters worse 
by importing the celebrated smile into the affair ! ” cried 
Dick. 

“ Worse 1 Dick, you are ungrateful. When Mr Burgrave 
has found himself mistaken in one matter of importance, he 
will be less cocksure in others.” 

“I don’t know about that,” said Georgia. “And take 
care, Mab. It’s dangerous playing with edged tools.” 

“Then I will take the risk. Reverence your heroic 
sister, Dick, willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of 
your career.” 

“And if the worst come to the worst, the prospective 
glories of the viceregal throne will gild the pill,” said Fitz. 


CHAPTER n. 


“life is eeal; life is earnest.” 

“ Oh, Georgie, I do so want a good long talk.” 

It was the morning after Mabel’s arrival, and she had 
settled herself on the verandah with her work, a laudable 
pretence in which no one had ever seen her set a stitch. 
After Dick had ridden away, she yawned a good deal, and 
looked out more than once disconsolately over the desert in 
search of entertainment, which failed to present itself, and 
Georgia had her household duties to perform before she 
could devote herself to amusing her sister-in-law. Mabel 
had several distant glimpses of her laying down the law to 
submissive servants, and paying surprise visits in the com- 
pound, but at last she mounted the steps, threw aside her 
sun-hat, and bringing out a work-basket, spread a little pile 
of delicate cambric upon the table before her. 

“ Talk, then,” she said, with a pin in her mouth. 

“ But you are sure we shan’t be interrupted % Have you 
quite done % ” 

“ I think we are safe. I have visited the cook-house and 
the dairy, interviewed the gardener, arranged about the 
horses’ and cow’s food as well as our own, and physicked all 
the invalids in the neighbourhood. So begin, Mab.” 

“Well, don’t you want to know my real reasons for 
coming out ? ” 

“ I thought we heard them last night — such as they are.” 

“ How nasty you are, Georgie ! Didn’t you guess that 
there were other reasons behind, reserved for your private 
ear, and not to be exposed to Dick’s ribaldry? The truth 
is, I was hungering and thirsting for reality, and that’s why 
I came.” 

“ My beloved Mab, is England a world of shadows ? ” 

“ It is exactly that — to women in our class of life, at any 
rate — and I am sick of shadows. Our life has become so 

14 


15 


“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.” 

smooth, and polished, and refined, that it is not life at all* 
We are all Tomlinsons more or less — getting our emotions 
second-hand from books and plays. Some of us go into the 
slums or the hospitals in search of experiences (you’ll say 
that was what I tried to do), but even then we only see 
things, we don’t feel them. I wanted to get to a place 
where things still happened, where there were real people 
and real passions.” 

“ Do you know, Mab ” — Georgia fixed a critical eye on 
her — “ if you had been a little younger, I should have sus- 
pected you of a yearning to enter the Army Nursing Service 1 
1 can’t teU you how many girls have lamented to me at 
different times the unreality of their lives, and proposed 
to set them right by means of that particular act of self- 
sacrifice. But as things are, I suppose, to use plain English, 
you were bored ? ” 

“ Bored to exasperation, then, you unsympathetic creature ! 
But I am serious, Georgie. There’s something you quoted 
in one of your letters from Kubbet-ul-Haj that has haunted 
me ever since, and expresses what I mean. It was some- 
thing like : ‘ When the world grows too refined and too 
cultured, God sends great judgments to beat us back to 
the beginning of history again, to toils and pain and peril, 
and the old first heroic lessons — how to fight and how to 
endure.’ It would be absurd for me, in England, to take 
to living in a slum, making my own things, and teaching 
people who are much better than I am, but I thought out 
here ” 

“And you find Dick and me dressing for dinner every 
evening, and getting the magazines monthly ! You had 
better cross the border into Ethiopia, Mab. We are just 
as artificial here as at home.” 

“ Georgie ! as if I wanted to make a savage of myself, 
like the youth in * Locksley Hall ’ ! Surely life can be 
simple and primitive without being squalid “? ” 

“ You haven’t asked my advice, and I don’t know whether 
you want it, but it’s dreadfully commonplace. Get married.” 

“You mean that I should know then what reality is? 
What an indictment to bring against Dick ! What in the 
world does he do to you, Georgie ? ” 

Georgia smiled superior. “You don’t expect me to begin 
to defend Dick to you?” she asked, then laughed aloud. 


16 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“No, Mab, you needn’t try to tease me about him at this 
hour of the day. But what I mean is, that you get into the 
way of looking at things in quite a different light when 
you are married. You don’t hold a brief for your own sex 
any longer, but for men as well. That makes the difference, 
I think. You are in the middle instead of on one side, and 
that is at any rate a help towards seeing life whole.” 

“But do you always look at things now through Dick’s 
spectacles ? How painfully monotonous ! ” 

“We don’t always agree, of course. But we talk things 
over together, and generally one convinces the other. If 
not, we agree to differ.” 

Mabel shook her head. “ Then I’m perfectly certain that 
you and Dick have never differed on a really vital matter,” 
she said. “ In that case I know quite well that neither of 
you would ever convince the other, and you could not con- 
scientiously agree to differ, so what is to happen ^ ” 

Georgia did not seem to hear her. She rose and went 
into the drawing-room, and unlocking a little carved cabinet 
that stood on her writing-table, took something out of a 
secret drawer. “Look at this, Mab,” she said, handing 
Mabel a piece of paper. It was a photograph, obviously 
the work of an amateur, of a little grave surrounded by 
lofty trees. 

“ Oh, Georgie ! ” the tears sprang to Mabel’s eyes ; “ this 
is baby’s grave 1 ” 

Georgia nodded. “Dick doesn’t know that I have it,” 
she said, speaking quickly. “Mr Anstruther took the 
photograph for me, and I had one framed, and it always 
hung in my room. I used to sit and look at it when Dick 
was out. Sometimes I cried a little, of course, but I never 
thought he would notice. But he took it into his head 
that I was fretting, and when we left Iskandarbagh he 
gave the servants a hint to lose the picture in moving. 
Wasn’t it just like him, dear fellow? But he never bar- 
gained for the servants’ letting out the truth to me. I had 
this one as well ; but when I saw how Dick felt about it I 
took care to keep it hidden away, and he thinks his plan 
has succeeded, and that I have forgotten. It makes him so 
much happier.” 

“I see,” said Mabel, in a low voice. “You wouldn’t 
have done that once, Georgie. I see the difference. But 


17 


“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.” 

surely there is a name on the stone ? ” She was examining 
the photograph closely. “ She was baptized, then 1 I never 
heard ” 

“Yes, Dick baptized her ; there was no one else. Georgia 
Mabel, he would have it so. Oh, Mab, it was awful, that 
time ! We were the only English people at Iskandarbagh 
just then, and the tribes were out on the frontier. Miss 
Jenkins, the Bab-us-Sahel missionary, was coming to me. 
Since I knew her first, she has been home to take the 
medical course, and is fully qualified. Well, she could not 
get to me, and I couldn’t get to Khemistan, and I had to 
stay where I was and be doctor and patient both. Of 
course I had my dear good Kahah, and Dick was as gentle 
as any woman; but oh, it was terrible! But I shouldn’t have 
minded afterwards if only baby had lived. She was such 
a darling, Mab, with fair hair and dark eyes, like yours. 
Dick tried to cheer me up — chaffed me about her being so 
small and weak — but she died in my arms a few minutes 
after she was baptized. Miss Jenkins got through to us 
the next day at the risk of her life, but she was only in 
time for the — the funeral in the Residency garden.” 

“And you lived through that^ Oh, Georgie, it would 
have killed me.” 

“ Oh no ; there was Dick, you know. Poor dear Dick I 
he was disappointed about baby, of course ; but a man 
doesn’t feel that sort of thing as a woman does. Besides, 
he was so glad I didn’t die too, that he really could not 
think of anything else.” 

“ And you, Georgie 1 ” 

“ I can’t talk of it, Mab, even to you — how I longed to 
die. But he never knew it. And when I was better, I 
saw how wicked I had been. I would have lost anything 
rather than leave him alone.” 

“Well,” said Mabel, trying to speak lightly, “you have 
made acquaintance with realities, Georgie, at any rate; but I 
don’t know that I am very keen on following in your foot- 
steps. I believe you have made me afraid of taking your 
advice. Marriage seems to involve experiences out here 
which one doesn’t get at home.” 

“It does,” agreed Georgia, “and I suppose they would 
be too much for some women. But when you love the 
country and the people as I do — and love your husband, of 

B 


18 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


course — ^you would scarcely come out here with him if you 
didn’t — I think the life brings you nearer to each other than 
anything else could. It is such an absolute solitude d deux^ 
you see, and you are so completely shut up to one another, 
that you seem really to become one, not just figuratively. 
It’s rather a terrible experiment to make, as you say, but if 
it succeeds — ^why, then it’s the very best thing in the world.” 

“I can’t quite fancy myself thinking of Mr Burgrave 
like that,” murmured Mabel reflectively. 

“ Mab, I didn’t think ” 

“ Oh, I beg your pardon, Georgie. If I didn’t laugh I 
should cry. And there’s Dick coming back, and he’ll see 
we have been crying. Talk about something else, quick ! ” 

“ I was wondering whether you would like to pay a call 
or two,” said Georgia, thrusting a wet handkerchief hastily 
into her pocket. “ I don’t want to drag you out if you are 
stiU tired after your journey, but it would be nice for you 
to get to know people before all the Christmas festivities 
begin next week.” 

“ Of course ! ” Mabel’s sudden animation was not 
wholly assumed for Dick’s benefit as he rode past the 
verandah. “ Who is there to call upon 1 ” 

“Only your friend Mrs Hardy, whose husband is the 
missionary here, and acts as chaplain, and Flora Graham, 
the Colonel’s daughter, I am afraid. Nearly all the men 
are bachelors or grass-widowers at this station. Two or 
three ladies will come in from Rahmat-Ullah and the other 
outlying stations next week, but we are still scarce enough 
to be valuable.” 

“That’s a state of things of which I highly approve,” 
said Mabel. 

“Never knew a woman that didn’t,” said Dick, enter- 
ing. “Ask Georgia if she doesn’t like to see the men 
round her chair, though she pretends to think they’re 
attracted by her professional reputation. But Miss 
Graham is coming to call on you, Mab. She’s dying to 
see you, but feared you would be too tired to pay visits this 
week. In gratitude for this honour, don’t you think you 
ought to refrain from exercising your fascinations on her 
young man 1 ” 

“ Really, Dick, I don’t know what you can think of me. 
Is Miss Graham engaged % ” 


“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.” 19 

“ Rather ; to young Haycraft, of the Regiment.” 

“ Ah, I fly at higher game,” said Mabel austerely. 

“ So I should have guessed.” 

“Oh, Dick, have you seen the Commissioner?” cried 
Georgia. 

“ Been closeted with him nearly all morning.” 

“ And was he very horrid ? ” 

“By no means. He didn’t make any secret of his re- 
forming intentions, but he gave me no hint as to his plan 
for carrying them out. He only tells that sort of thing to 
casual fellow-travellers, I suppose. But I think he wished 
to make himself agreeable, and I attribute that to my having 
the honour of being Miss Mabel North’s brother.” 

“ Ah ! ” said Mabel wisely. 

Late that afternoon she and Georgia set forth to visit 
Mrs Hardy, much against Mabel’s will. She represented 
that she had only parted from the good lady the day before, 
and had not the slightest desire to renew the acquaintance, 
but Georgia was firm. 

“ We will only go in for a minute or two, for we must be 
back early to meet the Grahams, but I could not bear her to 
think herself slighted.” 

When they reached the missionary’s bungalow they found 
it in the throes of a general turn-out. The verandah was 
piled with furniture, and here Mrs Hardy, a worn-looking 
little woman with a lined face, and thin grey hair screwed 
into an unbecoming knob, received them in the lowest pos- 
sible spirits. She had always prophesied that the house 
would go to rack and ruin during her absence in England, and 
now she perceived that it had. Only that morning she had 
discovered the fragments of her very best damask table-cloth 
doing duty as dusters, and three silver spoons were missing. 
Moreover, she believed she was on the verge of further dis- 
coveries that would compel her to dismiss at least half the 
servants. Georgia’s inquiry after Mr Hardy elicited the 
fact that he had contracted the bad habit of having his 
meals served in his study and reading while he partook of 
them, which was bound to have a prejudicial effect on his 
digestion in the future, while Mrs Hardy felt morally certain 
that he had gone to church in rags for many Sundays past. 
Yes, he had spoken very cheerfully of several interesting 
inquirers who had come to him of late, but Mrs Hardy had, 


20 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


and would continue to have, grave doubts as to the genuine- 
ness of their motives. Georgia sighed, and turned the con- 
versation to the subject of the journey from the coast, but 
this only opened the way for a fresh flood of forebodings. 
The new Commissioner was bent on mischief, and the natives 
were perceptibly uneasy. Where they were not defiant they 
were sullen, and Mrs Hardy’s eagle eye foresaw trouble 
ahead. Perceiving that Georgia was not entirely at one 
with her, she descended suddenly to details. 

“ Ah, dear Mrs North, I know you think I am a pessimist, 

but when you hear what I have to tell you ! Is — is 

Miss North in your confidence — politically speaking h ” with 
a meaning glance at Mabel. 

“ In our confidence ! ” cried Georgia, in astonishment. 
“ Of course she is. Why not ? ” 

Mrs Hardy bridled. “ I am relieved to hear that Miss 
North is not so entirely taken up with the Commissioner as 
to have no thought for her dear brother’s interests,” she 
said acidly. “Well, I must tell you that I hear on good 
authority that Mr Burgrave intends to allow Bahram Khan 
to return to Nalapur. In the course of our journey he 
gave a private audience to a Hindu whom I recognised as 
Narayan Singh, the brother of the Nalapur Vizier Ram 
Singh, and I now hear that he has been closeted with him 
again to-day. Ram Singh has always been suspected of 
intriguing for Bahram Khan’s return, and Narayan Singh 
has divided his time between Nalapur and Ethiopia for 
years.” 

“ Oh, but it’s quite impossible ! ” cried Georgia. “ The 
Commissioner would never take such a step without con- 
sulting my husband, and Dick would never countenance it. 
Bahram I^an has sinned beyond forgiveness.” 

“ I wish I could think so ! ” said Mrs Hardy oracularly. 
“We shall soon see, my dear Mrs North. What, must you 
gol I wonder Major North likes you to drive that high 
dog-cart. You wiU certainly have an accident some day.” 

“ Odious woman ! ” cried Mabel, as the dog-cart dashed 
down the road. “ How can you endure her, Georgie % She 
is the very incarnation of spite.” 

“No, no — of hopelessness,” said Georgia. “The climate 
tries her, and her children are aU being educated at home, 
and she thinks Mr Hardy is not appreciated here. Dear 


21 


“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.” 

old man ! I wish you could have seen him, Mab. He is 
all patience and cheerfulness, and indeed, it is a good thing 
that he has Mrs Hardy to keep him within bounds. All 
our people and the native Christians love him, and even 
the mullahs who come to argue with him can’t succeed in 
hating him. His learning is really wasted up here, and I 
don’t think he has had more than six baptisms of converts 
in the five years we have known him. We always say that 
the natives who become Christians here must be very much 
in earnest, for Mrs Hardy discourages them so conscien- 
tiously beforehand.” 

“ Horrid old thing, spoiling her husband’s work ! ” cried 
Mabel. 

“No, not at all. He has been taken in more than once. 
And really, Mab, it is hard for us to urge these people to 
be baptized. The persecution is awful.” 

“ Here — under English rule ? ” 

“Not from us, of course, but from their own people. 
Two men have been lured across the frontier and murdered, 
and another had a false charge trumped up against him, 
and only just escaped hanging. It seems scarcely fair on 
our part unless we can get them away to another part of 
India.” 

“ WeU, Mrs Hardy isn’t exactly a good example of the 
effects of Christianity. She is enough to frighten away any 
number of intending converts.” 

“ And yet she is the staunchest friend possible at a pinch. 
I had rather have her with me in an emergency than any 
other woman I know.” 

“ That’s because she likes you. She hates me, and would 
rejoice to make my life a burden to me. The idea of 
hinting that I would betray Dick’s secrets to Mr Burgrave ! 
Wasn’t it infamous ? But who is Bahram Khan ? ” 

“ He is the Amir of Nalapur’s nephew, and was intended 
to succeed to the throne, but in order to expedite matters 
he tried to poison both his uncle and Dick’s predecessor 
here, who had been obliged to scold him for some of his 
doings. The matter could not be absolutely proved against 
him, but he thought it weU to take refuge in Ethiopia, and 
has stayed there ever since. To guard against his return- 
ing, Dick advised the Amir to adopt another nephew, 
Bahadar Shah, as his successor, and he did. Bahram Khan 


22 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


is only about twenty-three now, but he married an Ethio- 
pian lady of rank four years ago. His poor old mother, 
who is one of my Nalapur patients, was very sore at his 
arranging it without consulting her. She remained at 
her brother’s court when her son escaped, for it was she 
who saved the lives of the Amir and Sir Henry Gaunt. 
She suspected her son’s intentions, and tasted the food 
prepared for the banquet he was going to give. It made 
her very iU, but she gave the warning, and I was sent for 
post-haste from Iskandarbagh in time to save her life. She 
is a dear, grateful old thing.” 

“But do you think Mr Burgrave will let Bahram Khan 
come back*?” 

“Oh no, it’s impossible. But I wish,” added Georgia 
thoughtfully, “that I hadn’t been so emphatic in denying 
it to Mrs Hardy. If anything happens now, she wiU know 
that Dick and the Commissioner are not in accord.” 

“ But why shouldn’t she know ^ ” 

“Because out here we learn to stick together. Quarrel 
in private as much as you like, but present a united front 
to the foe,” said Georgia sententiously, as she puUed up 
before her own verandah. Two horses, in charge of native 
grooms, were waiting at the door. 

“Our visitors have arrived before us,” said Mabel, and 
they hurried into the drawing-room, to find an elderly man 
of soldierly appearance and a tall yellow-haired girl 
waiting patiently for them. 

“I’m afraid you will think us very rude for thrusting 
ourselves upon you so soon, and at this time of day,” said 
Miss Graham, addressing herself to Mabel, after Georgia 
had apologised for their absence, “ but my father happened 
to have time to come with me just now, and I was so very 
anxious to see you ” 

“ How sweet of you ! ” murmured Mabel softly, as the 
visitor stopped abruptly. 

“Because I want to ask you a favour,” finished Miss 
Graham. Her father laughed, and Mabel looked politely 
interested. “ I want you to be Queen of the Tournament 
next week instead of me.” 

“ Oh, Georgie ! ” cried Mabel ; “ and you said that life 
out here was modern and unromantic ! Why, here we are 
plunged into the Middle Ages at once.” 


“LIFE IS REAL; LIFE IS EARNEST.” 23 

“ It’s only my daughter’s poetical way of speaking of our 
annual gymkhana,” explained Colonel Graham. “She has 
officiated so often that she feels shy. The real fact is,” 
he turned confidentially to Georgia, “Haycraft has loafed 
about here so much that he’s wretchedly stale this year, and 
Flora can’t bear to give a prize to any one else.” 

“No, no, papa; what a shame!” cried Miss Graham, 
blushing. “You see. Miss North, I have really done it a 
good many times, and I’m sure everybody would like to 
see some one new. Besides, I am engaged, you know, and 
— ^and-^^ — ” 

“And it would make it more realistic if the opposing 
heroes felt they were really struggling for the Queen’s 
favour r’ said her father. “Well, that’s easily managed. 
Intimate to Haycraft that unless he wins he’ll have to 
resign you to the successful competitor.” 

“ But why ask me ? ” said Mabel. 

“Because there’s no one else,” replied Miss Graham 
quickly. “No, I don’t mean that; but my father says I 
ought to ask the Commissioner to give the prizes, and 
I don’t like him well enough. But he couldn’t possibly be 
offended if I asked you. It’s so obviously the proper 
thing.” 

“Now, whyT’ asked Mabel again, and the other girl 
blushed once more. 

“I saw you yesterday when you rode past our house,” 
she said shyly, “and I knew at once that you were the 
right person.” 

Mabel smiled graciously. Such open admiration from 
one of her own sex was rare enough to be grateful to her. 
“I am wondering what I should wear,” she said. “I have 
a little muslin frock ” 

“ Oh 1 ” said Miss Graham, evidently disappointed. “ But 
perhaps — do you think I might see it T’ 

“If Georgie and Colonel Graham will excuse us for a 
moment,” said Mabel rising, and she led the way to her 
own room, and summoned the smiling brown-faced ayah 
whom she had brought from Bombay. 

“ Oh I ” cried Flora Graham again, when the “ little 
muslin frock ” was displayed to her, but her tone was not 
now one of disappointment. The frock might be little, 
whatever that term might mean as applied to a gown, but 


24 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


it was not therefore to be despised. It was undoubtedly 
made of muslin, but it had a slip of softest primrose silk, 
and the glories of frills and lace and primrose ribbon which 
decked it bewildered her eyes. “It is lovely ! ” she said 
slowly ; “ and look how your ayah appreciates it. I wish 
mine ever had the chance of regarding one of my gowns 
with such reverential admiration ! And what hat will you 
wear with it 1 ” 

“ They tried to make me have one swathed in white and 
primrose chiflfon,” said Mabel indifferently, “ but I knew I 
could never stand that. I shall wear this one with it.” 
She indicated a large black picture hat. 

“That will be perfect,” said Miss Graham. “It’s the 
finishing touch. Oh, you will — ^you must — give the prizes. 
That gown would be wasted otherwise. You will do it, 
won’t you 1 ” 

Yielding sweetly to the eager entreaties showered upon 
her, Mabel consented, and in the talk which followed set 
herself to gain an acquaintance with aU the gaieties that 
were to be expected during the following week. When 
Georgia came to say that Colonel Graham was obliged to 
leave, the two girls were discussing ball dresses with the 
keenest interest. 

“ I can’t make Mabel out,” Georgia said to husband 
that night. “ Sometimes she seems in such deadly earnest, 
and yet she is as anxious as possible to take part in every- 
thing that is going on.” 

“ But why in the world shouldn’t she be ? ” 

“It’s not that; but I can’t think why she should care 
for it.” 

“No, I suppose not. You never felt that you must play 
the fool for a bit now and then or die, did you, Georgie 1 
But Mab does — has periodical fits of it, alternating with 
the deadly earnest. Let her alone to have her fling. She’ll 
settle down some day, and it’s not as if it did any harm.” 

But Georgia was not convinced. 


CHAPTER in. 


“in his simplicity sublime.” 

“ The Major not back from the durbar yet, I suppose, Mrs 
North? Have you heard this extraordinary report about 
Bahrain Khan ? ” 

“ No, I didn’t know there was any report going about,” 
answered Georgia. She was driving Mabel to the club, and 
had stopped to speak to the station surgeon, a cheerful little 
stout man, riding a frisky pony which danced merrily about 
the road, while its master tried in vain to induce it to stand 
stiU. 

“ It’s all over the bazaar, and one of the hospital assistants 
told me. They say that the Commissioner means to insist 
on Bahram Khan’s being restored to his lands and honours, 
and to advise poor old Ashraf Ali strongly to accept him 
again as his heir.” 

“Oh, that gives the whole thing away,” said Georgia, 
more cheerfully, “ for the Amir’s adoption of Bahadar Shah 
was recognised by the Government of India. Was all this 
to happen to-day. Dr Tighe ? ” 

“ Yes, at this durbar. Quite thrilling, isn’t it ? Well, I 
must be off on my rounds. When am I to have that game 
of tennis you promised me. Miss North ? ” and the doctor 
rode away, while Georgia drove on, with brows drawn into 
an anxious frown. 

“It’s quite impossible,” she said at last, rousing herself. 
“ He couldn’t spring such a mine upon us. Look, Mab ! 
thm is my father’s old house.” 

“ But why don’t you live in it ? ” asked Mabel, looking 
with much interest at the flat-roofed building with its 
massive stone walls and narrow windows. Georgia laughed. 

“ Because the accommodation is a little too Spartan for a 
family,” she said. “My father prided himself on his powers 
of roughing it, and all his young men had to follow his 

26 


26 THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 

example. Mr Anstrather inhabits the house at present, in 
company with the official records, for the office is large and 
airy, and Dick uses it still.” 

“I should have thought General Keeling would have 
lived in the fort,” said Mabel, as a sharp turn in the road 
brought them in sight of the dust-coloured walls and moul- 
dering battlements, crowned with withered grass, of the old 
border stronghold. 

“ Never ! ” cried Georgia. “ The first thing he did on 
coming here was to dismantle it. He would never allow 
either the KJiemistan Horse or his British officers to hide 
behind walls. Their safety had to depend on their own 
watchfulness.” 

“ He had the courage of his convictions, at any rate.” 

“ Of course. He never told any one to do what he would 
not do himself. He wanted to blow up the fort and destroy 
it altogether ; but the Government objected in the interests 
of archaeology, so he gave it to the station for a club-house. 
There has never been too much money to spare in Alibad, 
and people have used it gratefully ever since.” 

“ What a delicious old place ! ” sighed Mabel, as they 
drove in through the hospitable gateway, on either side of 
which the ancient doors, warped and worm-eaten and paint- 
less, leaned useless against the wall. The block of buildings 
which had comprised the chief apartments of the fort in 
the wild days before the coming of the British was now 
utilised as the club-house, and an inner courtyard had been 
ingeniously converted into a tennis-ground. As she passed, 
Mabel caught a glimpse through the archway of Flora 
Graham and h&x fianci^ young Haycraftj playing vigorously, 
but she also noticed something else. 

“ Georgie, there’s Mrs Hardy looking out for you.” 

“ Oh dear ! ” cried Georgia in a panic, “ I can’t meet her 
just now, until I know the truth about Bahram Khan. 
She is waiting to gloat over me about this horrible rumour, 
and I can’t stand it. I am going to take you up to the 
ramparts, Mab, to see the view.” 

She gave the reins to the groom, and, avoiding the reading- 
room, in the verandah of which could be discerned Mrs. 
Hardy’s depressed-looking bonnet, hurried Mabel across 
the wide courtyard and up a flight of steps which led to 
the summit of the western wall. From this, at some risk to 


“IN HIS SIMPLICITY SUBLIME.” 27 

life and limb, they were able to reach one of the half-ruined 
towers, which commanded a bird’s-eye view of the town. 
The native quarter, with its narrow, crooked alleys and 
carefully yarded flat roofs, the lines, painfully neat in the 
mathematical symmetry of their rows of white huts, the 
houses in the cantonments, embowered in pleasant gardens, 
were all spread before them. Beyond the belt of green 
which marked the limits of the irrigated land round the 
town, the desert stretched on the east and south as far as 
the eye could see. To the west was a range of rugged hills, 
their nearer spurs within rifle-shot of the fort, and to the 
north, at a much greater distance, the peaks, at this season 
covered with snow, of a considerable mass of mountains. 

“ That is Nalapur,” said Georgia, pointing to the moun- 
tains, “and beyond it to the eastward is Ethiopia. Our 
house is the last on British soil. The corner of the com- 
pound exactly touches the frontier line.” 

“Then that’s why your father rides past just there?” 
said Mabel unthinkingly. 

“ So the natives say. I rather like to think of him as 
still guarding the frontier which he spent his life in de- 
fending. It’s a nice idea, I mean — that’s all. But, Mab, 
the men are coming back from the durbar. Look at that 
dust-cloud, and you will see the light strike on something 
shining every now and then. That’s the bravery of their 
durbar get-up. We will wait here until they get into the 
town, and capture the first that comes this way. I must 
find out what has happened.” 

They watched the cavalcade enter the town and separate 
into its component parts, and presently saw Fitz Anstruther 
riding up to the fort. He caught sight of their parasols 
and waved his hand, but Georgia dragged Mabel dovm the 
steps, and they met him in the courtyard. 

“You’ve heard, then?” he cried, as his eyes fell on 
Georgia’s face. 

“ Only a bazar rumour. Is it true that Bahram 
Khan ?” 

“ He is restored to his estates and rank, and recommended 
by the Commissioner to the particular favour of his uncle. 
Burgrave had him all ready outside the tent, it appears, 
and after enlarging to the Amir and the luckless Bahadar 
Shah on the blessings of family unity, and the advisability 


28 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


of forgiving and forgetting youthful peccadilloes, brought 
him in as a practical embodiment of his words. It was 
dramatic — very — but it was playing it awfuUy low down 
on us, especially the Major.” 

“ Then he knew nothing of it ^ ” 

“No more than I did.” 

“And Ashraf Ali was willing to take the Commissioner’s 
advice ? ” 

“He hadn’t much choice. A glance from Major North 
would have turned the scale, but you know what the 
Major is, Mrs North — he will play fair by his own side, 
however badly they may have treated him. He gave him 
no encouragement to show fight, and Ashraf Ali took a 
back seat. It is rather tough to have to receive again into 
the bosom of your family an affectionate nephew who has 
tried to murder you, isn’t it 1 ” 

“But how does the Commissioner get over that little 
difficulty?” 

“Airily ignores it. ‘Not guilty, and won’t do it again,’ 
is his view. Every prospect of domestic happiness in the 
Amir’s family circle in future.” 

“ Where is Dick now ? ” asked Georgia suddenly. 

“I rather think he has gone to have it out with the 
Kumpsioner Sahib. He was horribly sick, and who can 
wonder ? ” 

“I really think,” said Mabel, quite inconsequently, “that 
if I couldn’t pick up my own balls I wouldn’t play tennis.” 

They were sitting in the verandah overlooking the tennis- 
court, and it was the sight of the squad of small boys in 
uniform who were being kept hard at work by the three 
men now playing that had called forth the remark. 

“We get so slack with the climate,” pleaded Fitz. 

“Well, I don’t intend to let those boys pick up my balls 
when I play.” 

“ They won’t have the chance. Miss North. We should 
simply massacre them if they attempted it. Oh, here’s the 
Major — and the Commissioner ! ” 

Dick was still in uniform, and the man who emerged 
with him from under the archway was quite thrown into 
the shade by his magnificence, but the contrast did not 
appear to afflict Mr Burgrave, even if he noticed it. He 
crossed the shadowed court with slow, deliberate steps, 


29 


“IN HIS SIMPLICITY SUBLIME.** 

apparently unaware that he was interrupting the game, 
talking all the time to Dick, who listened courteously, but 
without conviction. 

“ What a curious face it is ! ” muttered Georgia in- 
voluntarily, as the Commissioner stepped into the line of 
light cast by a lamp in one of the rooms. 

“Yes, doesn’t he look the pig-headed brute he is?” was 
the joyful response of Fitz, who had overheard her. 

“No, that’s not it. He looks obstinate enough, but 
there is something benevolent about the face — nothing 
cruel or mean. It’s the face of a fanatic.” 

“ Oh no, Mrs North ! There’s bound to be something 
good about even a fanatic at bottom, I suppose. Won’t 
you say a doctrinaire ? ” 

“If you prefer it. I mean a man who has formed 
certain opinions, and allows neither facts nor arguments to 
prevent his forcing them upon other people.” 

“Ah, Mrs. North!” The Commissioner was bowing 
before Georgia with the somewhat exaggerated courtesy 
which, combined with his paternal manner, caused im- 
patient young people to brand his demeanour as patronis- 
ing. “ And are you very much incensed against me for 
keeping your husband so busy all day ? ” 

He sat down beside her as he spoke, taking little notice 
of Mabel, and devoted himself to her for ten minutes or 
more, while Dick went into the club-house to speak to 
some one. To Mabel, as to Georgia, it appeared as if Mr 
Burgrave’s condescension towards Dick’s wife was intended 
to disarm any resentment that might have been aroused in 
her mind by his treatment of Dick that day, although it 
was not easy to see why he should take so much trouble. 
It was Fitz on whom the true comedy of the situation 
dawned at last, rendering him speechless with secret 
delight. The Commissioner was an adept in the mental 
exercise known as reading between the lines, and he had 
formulated his own explanation of the unconventional 
manner in which Mabel had made her appearance upon the 
stage of Khemistan. Jealous of her sister-in-law’s good 
looks, and the attention she attracted, Georgia had refused 
to invite her to pay a visit to Alibad, and the poor girl’s 
only chance had been to take matters into her own hands. 
Too considerate to expose Mabel to the risk of incurring 


30 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


the reproaches of her family circle, Mr Burgrave would 
talk to Georgia long enough to put her into a good temper 
before he gratified his own inclinations. His reward came 
when Georgia rose and remarked that it was time to go 
home, for guessing that Dick would be driving his wife, he 
lost no time in offering Mabel a seat in his dog-cart. As 
for Mabel, she accepted the offer joyfully. Her hasty 
determination to give Mr Burgrave a lesson had deepened 
by this time into the deliberate intention of fascinating him 
into la 3 dng aside his distrust of Dick. 

“ What an interesting day you must have had ! ” she 
began guilefully, as soon as they started. “ I wish ladies 
were admitted to durbars.” 

“ They are, sometimes , but I .fancy ” — the Commissioner 
smiled down at her — “ that there is not very much business 
done on those occasions.” 

“ Oh, then to-day’s was really a serious affair 1 Do tell 
me what you did.” 

“ I am afraid it would hardly interest you.” 

“Indeed it would. I am interested in everything that 
interests my friends.” 

Mr Burgrave’s smile became positively grandfatherly. 
“I thought so!” he said. “No, Miss North, I won’t 
allow you to sacrifice yourself by talking shop to me. To 
tell you the truth, it doesn’t interest me — out of office- 
hours — and therefore I am the last person in the world to 
inflict it upon you. I am sure you hear so much of it all 
day that you are as tired of the subject as I am of the 
revered name of General Keeling.” 

“ What, have you been hearing more about him 1 ” 

Mr Burgrave groaned. “ Have I not 1 Michael Angelo 
was nothing to him. I always knew that he founded Alibad 
and dug its wells, planted the trees and constructed the 
canals — made Khemistan, in short. But now I am the un- 
happy recipient of endless personal anecdotes about him. 
One man tells me that he used to go about in the sun with- 
out a head-covering of any kind, trusting to the thickness 
of his hair — ^if it was not rude, I should say of his skull. 
Then comes one of his old troopers, and assures me solemnly 
that after a battle he has seen Sinjaj Kilin unbutton his 
tunic and shake out the bullets which had passed through 
it ■without hurting him. Another remembers that he has 


IN HIS SIMPLICITY SUBLIMK 


31 


<( 


seen him reading a letter from his wife while under fire — 
rather a pretty touch that — and another recalls for my ad- 
miration the fact that the General reserved an hour every 
morning for his private devotions, and has been known to 
keep the Commander-in-Chief waiting rather than allow it 
to be broken in upon.” 

“ But he was a splendid man,” said Mabel, ashamed of 
herself for laughing. 

“Who doubts it? Only too splendid; — I understand the 
feelings of the gentleman who banished Aristides. But for- 
give me for lamenting my private woes to you, Miss North. 
Let us turn to more interesting themes. We are to see you 
in an appropriate role on Saturday, Miss Graham tells me.” 

“I believe I am to give away the prizes at the Gymkhana — 
unless you would prefer to do it,” said Mabel, with sudden 
primness. 

“ I should not think of such a thing unless it would be a 
relief to you.” 

“ To me ? I shall enjoy the prize-giving above all things. 
But why ? ” 

“ I imagined you might feel shy.” Mr Burgrave looked 
at her as kindly as ever, but Mabel fancied that he was 
disappointed in her in some way. 

“He seems to think I am about sixteen,” she said to 
herself, and awoke to the fact that they had reached home, 
and that her companion had skilfully prevented her from 
saying a word about the question of the moment. 

“Dick,” said Georgia to her husband, when she was 
alone with him that evening, ‘ did you get any explanation 
out of Mr Burgrave ? ” 

“ I did — without asking for it. He told me quite calmly 
that the reinstatement of Bahram Khan was part of his 
programme, and that as I had taken such a strong line with 
regard to the youth’s banishment, he considered it better to 
relieve me of all responsibility about it. It would be 
pleasanter for both of us, he thought.” 

“Pleasanter for you and him in your social relations, 
perhaps ; but your prestige with the natives, Dick ! What 
do they think ? ” 

“WKy, they gloat, most of ’em,” said Dick grimly. 

“ But the Amir and Bahadar Shah ? ” 


32 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


'*Oh, poor old Ashraf Ali sent his pet mullah to inter- 
view me while the Commissioner was taking an affectionate 
leave of his proUgd. The old man really thought, or pre- 
tended to think, that I had a hand in the matter. Why 
hadn’t I told him that I desired Bahram Khan’s return in- 
stead of springing it upon him in that way % he wanted to 
know. Had he ever refused to take my advice ? I had to 
assure him that I knew no more about it than he did, for 
if he once loses confidence in me, it means that we may as 
well retire from the frontier. Neither he nor the Sardars 
will stand a second spell of snubbing and suspicion.” 

“ But what did you advise him to do ? ” 

“To choose the lesser of two evils. Bahram Khan will 
plot wherever he is, and Burgrave has pledged himself to 
see his father’s fortress of Dera Gul restored to him, but I 
advised the Amir strongly to keep him under his own eye 
at the capital. In any case we shall have one friend in the 
enemy’s camp, for the good old Moti-ul-Nissa sent a message 
by the mullah, ‘ Tell the doctor lady’s husband that where 
my son goes I go from henceforth, and that no harm shall 
be devised against the Sarkar if I can prevent it.’ ” 

“ Dear old thing ! ” cried Georgia. 

“But it’s not so much a rising that I’m afraid of at 
present. Bahram Khan will get the smaller obstacles out 
of his way first. Poor Bahadar Shah, who is no hero, sent 
to ask me by the mullah whether I would advise him to 
throw up his pretensions and retire into British territory. 
Of course I told him to sit tight, but no insurance office 
that respected itself would look at his life after to-day. 
And, Georgie, I am very much mistaken if Burgrave has 
not got worse in store for us.” 

“ Dick ! what could there be worse 1 ” Georgia’s face was 
blanched. 

“ I have a presentiment — call it a conviction, if you like — 
that they mean to withdraw the subsidy, and Ashraf Ali 
has got hold of the idea too.” 

“ But, Dick, that would be a direct breach of faith ! 
They couldn’t do it — they couldn’t ! The treaty that really 
cost my father his life, he had such trouble to get it ratified! 

Why, it has kept the frontier safe all these years ” 

“My dear Georgie, that’s not what Burgrave and his 
school think about. You know as well as I do that this 


33 


“IN HIS SIMPLICITY SUBLIME.” 

province is an anomaly, and has got to be reduced to the 
level of next-door. When Ashraf Ali received the subsidy, 
he accepted our suzerainty over Nalapur, and according to his 
lights he has acted up to his obligations. But our present 
rulers don’t care to keep the suzerainty, don’t care for a 
vassal state outside our boundaries, and do care for econo- 
mising rupees.” 

“ But surely they must know ” 

“That they will throw Ashraf Ali into the arms of 
Ethiopia, and extend Scythian influence down to our very 
borders, thanks to the way in which Fath-ud-Din has been 
allowed practically to repudiate Sir Dugald Haigh’s treaty ? 
Why, Georgie, that’s just the sort of thing these fellows 
never see until it comes to pass. Then they lament that 
the world is so dreadfully out of joint, and say it aU springs 
from our ingrained suspiciousness.” 

“But, Dick, you wouldn’t countenance such a breach of 
faith?” 

“ No, I told Ashraf Ali so — told him he would hear of 
my resignation flrst. Funny thing, isn’t it, to take a man 
who knows the' frontier as I do, and let him give five of the 
best years of his life to working for it night and day, and 
then to send a jack-in-office who has never seen it to reverse 
all he’s done? It’s a queer world, Georgie. But we’U 
retire with clean hands, at any rate, you and I, and taste 
the modest joys of the pensioned in a suburban flat, with 
a five-pound note at Christmas-time from Mab and her 
Commissioner to help us along.” 

Georgia could not trust herself to speak. She was 
holding Dick’s hand in hers, and smoothing his coat-cuff 
industriously. 

“WeU, never say die!” he went on. “I may get a 
berth in some Colonial defence force yet, and from that 
giddy height we’ll smile superior upon a jeering world, 
serenely conscious that we can do without the five-pound 
note.” 

At one time Georgia would not have lost a moment in 
reminding him that she could in any case return to the 
active practice of her profession, but now she would not 
even suggest to Dick that last humiliation of living upon 
his wife’s earnings. Instead, she lifted his hand to her lips. 

“We shan’t mind poverty, dear. We shall have been 

C 


34 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


true to our people, and besides, your resignation may save 
the frontier. It will come out wby you retired, and when 
once the reason is known, public opinion will be roused, 
and the Government will have to return to the old policy, 
even though we may not be here to carry it out. But oh, 
Dick, how can you speak civilly to Mr Burgrave after 
this?” 

“ Why, Georgie, the difficulty would be to speak uncivilly 
to him . The man is so wrapt up in his own greatness 
that he can’t imagine any one’s venturing to differ from 
him. He sweeps on like a glacier, removing all obstacles 
by his mere passage. The stones and rocks and things get 
carried along too, you know, whether they like it or not, 
and when the glacier has done with them it dumps them 
down in a neat heap, that’s all. Besides, we have to give 
Mab her chance.” 

“ If Mab marries him, I have done with her,” said Georgia, 
with conviction. 

During the next fortnight the house was overrun by a 
horde of Christmas guests, who came from outlying forts 
and irrigation and telegraph stations to taste the joys of 
civilisation for three or four days, hurrying back like con- 
scientious Cinderellas at a given moment, that the other 
man might have his turn. Mabel was immensely interested 
in these lads, who looked up to Dick with frank veneration, 
and sought for quiet talks with Georgia that they might 
tell her all their home news, and kept the house lively from 
early morning until their host reluctantly suggested that it 
was time for them to repair to their improvised bedrooms 
at night. Her interest did not go unrequited, for she had 
them all at her feet, regulating her favours so discreetly 
that none of them could complain that he was worse treated 
than his neighbour, and at the same time no one had undue 
cause for self-congratulation. 

“ I know you think I shall lose my head, Georgie,” she 
said, on the evening of Christmas Day, when she and 
Georgia had left the men to their nightly smoke ; “ and I 
really believe I should if it lasted. These boys are all so 
splendid. Each of them is a hero in the ordinary course 
of his day’s work, but he never thinks of it, and no one out 
here thinks of it, and at home no one even knows their 


“IN HIS SIMPLICITY SUBLIME.” 35 

names. How is it that all the men out here are so nice? 
The women, as far as I have seen, are distinctly inferior.” 

“So sorry,” said Georgia humbly. “Perhaps we were 
born so.” 

“ Goose ! I didn’t mean you. I meant the ordinary 
Anglo-Indian woman. With so many delightful men about, 
she ought to be proportionately better than at home.” 

“ Perhaps it’s just possible that the delightful men spoil 
her, Mab. What do you think 1 ” 

Mabel laughed consciously, as she reclined in a long 
chair, with her arms behind her head. “You mean that I 
have deteriorated perceptibly already, I suppose ? But that 
must be the men’s fault. If their admiration is the right 
kind, it ought to elevate me, surely 'i Now don’t say that I 
trade on their honest admiration to flatter my self-love. 
I’m sick of that sort of thing. Besides, it’s a pleasure to 
them to admire me, and I consider that it does them good. 
I am a liberal education for them.” 

“ How nice it must be to feel that ! ” 

“ Yes, and I really am awfully fond of them, every one. 
I should like them all to win to-morrow. I can’t bear the 
thought that only one or two of them can get prizes ; I 
shall feel so unfair. Georgie, what are you going to wear 1 
Oh — ” she sat up suddenly, with eyes wide with horror, 
“ what a wretch I am ! Georgie, I never remembered your 
dresses when I was so busy getting my own. I haven’t 
brought you a single one.” 

“I guessed that some days ago,” said Georgia. 

“ Oh, how wicked of me ! Take one of mine, Georgie — 
any of them — even the muslin. I deserve it.” 

“ I should look like a death’s head at a feast, indeed ! 
Nonsense, Mab ! I shall wear my red and white foulard.” 

“The one I sent you out two years ago? Oh, it wiU 
be too dreadful ! Sleeves and everything have altered since 
then. Besides, every one will know it.” 

“What does that signify? It is quite fresh, and suits 
me very well. No one wiU remember it — not even 
Dick.’* 

But in this Georgia was mistaken. When she appeared 
the next morning, her husband looked suspiciously from her 
to Mabel. 

“Didn’t you wear that dress last year, Georgie? I 


36 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


thought you were going to get a new one. Why don’t you 
have something floppy and frilly, like Mab ? ” 

“Mab is a perfect dream,” said Georgia. “No amount 
of trains or flchus could make me look like her. You are 
very ungrateful, Dick. Who ever heard of a man’s quarrel- 
ling with his wife before for saving him a dressmaker’s 
bilH” 

“I’ve a good mind to telegraph home at once,” grumbled 
Dick. 

“But what good would that be for to-day 1 Never mind. 
I’ll get something terribly elaborate for next Christmas.” 

“ Oh, Georgie, how good of you not to give me away ! ” 
murmured Mabel, as Dick went out, grumbling, to see 
whether the dog-cart was ready. “ But I can’t help being 
glad you didn’t take this gown. I don’t think I could have 
given it up.” 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE OUTSIDER. 

“Have you heard the latest, Miss North?” asked Fitz 
Anstruther, as he escorted Mabel to the scene of action. 
The five men who were staying in the house had nearly 
come to blows in deciding who ought to enjoy this privi- 
lege, but Fitz had stepped in and disappointed them all 
equally by the calm announcement that it was his by right. 
Officially he was Major North’s deputy, and it was only 
fair that the pleasures as well as the duties of the post 
should devolve upon him. The justice of the contention 
was grudgingly admitted, and Fitz was the proudest man 
in Alibad when he drove to the ground that morning in his 
smart new buggy, with Mabel, the glories of her gown 
hidden by a tussore dust-cloak, seated beside him. 

“No. What has the Commissioner done now?” she 
asked. 

“Bahram Khan has entered his name for the Keeling 
Cup ! ” 

“And that is equivalent to saying that tho sky has 
faUen?” 

Fitz regarded her pityingly. “You don’t see it as we do,” 
he said. “Wait until you have been out a little longer. 
It seems that in order to cement the reconciliation he has 
brought about, the Commissioner saw fit to invite the 
Nalapur Princes to honour us with their presence to-day. 
The Amir and Bahadar Shah didn’t quite see themselves 
figuring in the triumphal procession, and both discovered 
that they had urgent business at home. But Bahram Khan 
duly turned up last night with his train of attendants, and 
is condescending enough to join us in our sports to-day. 
The Commissioner has a theory that in such mimic warfare 
as this the fusion of the English and native races proceeds 
apace, and Bahram Khan is doing his best to gratify him 


38 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


by poking himself into the race for the Keeling Cup — our 
very tiptop, crack, pucca event ! ” 

“ But did General Keeling patronise races ? I shouldn’t 
have thought they were at all in his line.” 

“They were not; but then, this isn’t a race in the 
ordinary sense of the word. It was first run just at the 
time when everything in Khemistan was named after him, 
and besides, it recalls one of his own pet dodges. They say 
that he used to subject the men that wanted to serve under 
him to pretty severe tests, and this was one of them. He 
used to rouse them up in the middle of the night, and they 
had to turn out without boots, catch a strange horse, and 
ride him round the town without a saddle, and with only a 
halter for a bridle.” 

“It’s to be hoped that the town was smaller in those 
days than now 1 ” 

“ Of course it was, but we don’t exact such a test as that. 
The ponies are all turned loose on the course without 
saddles, and the men, in slippers, have to catch them and 
mount. Any man who catches his own is disqualified. 
Then they have to get them round the course without bridle 
or whip of any kind. I have noticed that the spectators 
are always pretty nearly dead with laughing before the end, 
while the competitors get black in the face with restrained 
emotion.” 

“ But you don’t mean that General Keeling really treated 
his officers in that way 1 ” 

“ I do, indeed. He had to weed them out, you see, or he 
would have been overrun with volunteers. Oh, you may 
have full confidence in my veracity. Miss North, even though 
I once had a report returned me by a jealous Secretary with 
the remark that I should do well to quit the Civil Service 
for the path of romantic fiction. The pains I took over 
that report ! You see, I had an inkUng that it would be 
seen by a very exalted person, who is great on us juniors’ 
cultivating a literary style in our official writings. I can 
truly say that there has never been such a literary gem sent 
in since Macaulay left India. It was written in the most 
beautiful English — though I say it — full of tender touches 
and delicate conceits, and as to quotations, and Oriental 

imagery, and wealth of imaginative detail ! Ah well, 

it’s better not to think of it,” and Fitz sighed deeply. 


THE OUTSIDER. 39 

“ Why ? Did it bring down upon you a rebuke from the 
Great Great One ? ” 

“ No, alas ! for it never reached him. The Secretary 
intercepted it, naturally enough. Who would ever have 
looked at his minutes again after it? But at least it 
furnished him with an ideal to strive after. I have reason 
to believe he is in a lunatic asylum at this moment. The 
effort was too great, you see.” 

“That was rather close,” said Mabel irrelevantly, as the 
wheel shaved the basketwork tray of an itinerant sweetseller 
by the roadside. 

“He shouldn’t be so intent on his prospective gains. 
Look how many of the fellows there are about ! That 
shows we are near the ground. They flock to this place 
from all quarters when they know there’s a tamasha on.” 

They had reached the enclosure by this time, and Mabel 
found herself surrounded by an admiring throng. Pale- 
faced ladies from other stations glanced at her dress casually, 
and continued to gaze long and flxedly, her Alibad admirers 
brought up friends to be introduced, and both the old 
slaves and the new displayed a keen anxiety to post 
themselves for the day in the neighbourhood of her chair. 
With the exception of the race for the Keeling Cup, the 
sports were wholly military in character, and the programme 
was a lengthy one, but Mabel did not find the hours 
pass slowly. Everything was new and interesting, from 
the splendid native officers, with fierce eyes gleaming under 
enormous turbans, who dashed up on fiery steeds and bore 
away triumphantly an unresisting tent-peg, to the latest 
recruit who exhibited his coolness by holding out his bare 
hand, with what Mabel considered privately an excess of 
confidence, for his daffadar to cut a lemon upon it. There 
was the inner circle of troopers of the Khemistan Horse, 
reinforced to-day by such veterans as old Ismail Bakhsh 
and his fellow-c^jomsw, keenly critical, but above all things 
solicitous for the honour of the regiment. There were 
the notables of the district, grave and bearded men in 
flowing robes, who looked as though they might have sat 
for a gallery of Scriptural portraits, but who exhibited 
an anxious deference when Dick glanced their way, which 
suggested that their relation with him in the past had 
occasionally been that of criminals and judge. At the 


40 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


farther side of the course was the motley throng of dwellers 
in the native town, and hangers-on of the cantonments, 
with faces of every shade of brown, and clothes and turbans 
of every variety of colour. And lastly, close at hand, there 
was the little group of English, not taking their pleasure 
sadly, for once, but making the most of the rare opportunity 
for the exchange of news and opinions. The Commissioner 
was the centre of attraction here, naturally enough, or at 
least, he shared the general attention with Mabel ; but she 
was quite aware, as she met his benevolent smile, that he 
was making her a graceful present of a portion of the homage 
due to himself. 

The last event but one upon the programme was the 
tug-of-war between six men of the Khemistan Horse and 
six of the Sikhs who formed the Commissioner’s escort — 
a contest which was fought out with the greatest obstinacy, 
but in which the visiting team finally secured the victory, 
to the unconcealed lamentation and resentment of the local 
representatives and their friends. The triumphant Silchs 
found no sympathisers except among the sahib-log, and the 
English applause was cut short by the necessity of pre- 
paring for the last race, in which it was a point of honour 
for every man to take part who could possibly do so. 

“ A solemn sacrifice to the memory of the adored General 
Keeling ! ” said Mr Burgrave in a low voice to Mabel, 
as they watched their late companions assembling upon 
the course. 

“Oh, but what is that native doing!” cried Mabel, 
forgetting what she had heard only that morning, as a tall 
lithe man, wearing the green turban of a descendant of the 
Prophet, stepped out from the group of notables and joined 
the competitors. 

“That,” was the bland answer, “is Bahram Khan, 
hitherto the bugbear of the frontier ; henceforth, I hope, 
our friend and ally.” 

“ I don’t like to see him there. He spoils the look of it,” 
she said impulsively. 

“Bahram Khan offends your eye! Ah, Miss North, you 
must pardon a poor statesman the dulness of his percep- 
tions ! I am no authority upon aesthetic questions, I must 
confess, whereas you — well, you could scarcely not be one.” 

A smile emphasised the compliment, and Mabel turned 


THE OUTSIDER. 


41 


away rather hastily, and addressed a casual remark to Flora 
Graham. Compliments were all very well, but she did 
not approve of the adroit way in which Mr Burgrave 
repressed her whenever she touched on political subjects. 
Flora had no eyes for any one but Fred Haycraft at the 
moment, however, and Mabel was obliged to turn her atten- 
tion to the course. The signal for starting was given just 
then, and there ensued a wild meUe of men and horses, the 
men as eager to mount as the horses were determined not 
to be mounted by any one but their own masters. Presently 
one or two successful athletes forced their way out of the 
scrimmage, and by degrees most of the competitors secured 
a mount of some kind, but some were still vainly struggling 
when the foremost appeared round the curve of the course. 

“ Oh dear, he has no chance ! ” wailed Flora, referring to 
her Jicmcdj who was one of these unfortunates. “ That’s 
Bahram i^an’s pony he has got, and of course it won’t let 
a white man mount it. Well, every one must see that it 
isn’t his fault. Oh, he’s up at last ! ” 

But this tardy triumph was of little avail, for just as 
Fred Haycraft urged his unwilling steed on its way, 
Bahram Khan, mounted on the bay pony which was the 
especial pride of Fitz Anstruther’s heart, trotted gently past 
the winning-post. The absence of hurry, as the lucldess 
Fitz remarked afterwards, was at once the finest and the 
most irritating part of the performance. 

“ The nigger’s won ! ” remarked a grizzled old officer who 
had served under General Keeling, in blank amazement, and 
as the truth of his words broke upon those around him, they 
were received with a low whistle of dismay. The Commis- 
sioner, who had himself led the applause in which the rest 
were too much stunned to join, glanced round sharply, and 
at the same moment Mabel found Dick at her side. 

“Look here, Mab. You’d better ask the Commissioner 
to give the prizes. I never thought of this. These fellows 
are not like us — they don’t understand things. Get into a 
back seat quickly, without any fuss.” 

Mabel stared at him blankly. She was to relinquish her 
part in the events of the day, the. glorious hour to which 
she had been looking forward for more than a week, to dis- 
appoint all her admirers, and hide herself and her gown 
where no one could see them ! But Dick’s face was ada- 


42 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


mant, and he repeated his order peremptorily, until she rose 
and moved reluctantly towards the Commissioner, touching 
him on the arm. 

“ My brother says I had better ask you to distribute the 
prizes,” she said, with disappointment in every tone. Mr 
Burgrave looked at her in astonishment, then his face took a 
harder set as his eyes fell on Georgia, who was endeavouring 
to console Flora for her lover’s ill success. Of course it was 
her doing ! A faded woman in a gown that might have 
been new two seasons ago — how could she be otherwise than 
jealous of the radiant vision at his side ? “ And no wonder, 

poor thing ! ” said Mr Burgrave to himself, with contemp- 
tuous pity, but she must learn that it would not do to 
make mischief where her beautiful young sister-in-law was 
concerned. 

“My dear Miss North,” the Commissioner’s voice took 
on its most fatherly tone, “ don’t be afraid. Nothing would 
induce me to rob you of your pleasure.” 

The words were loud enough for Dick to hear, and Mabel 
saw him frown angrily as she returned to her place, half- 
proud and half-afraid of her triumph. He said nothing, 
however, but took his stand immediately behind her, the 
very embodiment of silent displeasure. The sense of his 
disapproval served to irritate her further, and she heartily 
wished him away. His rigid face would quite spoil the 
effect of the picture she had intended to present, and he 
was taking up the room of other people whose attendance 
she would have preferred. But she was determined not to 
give in, even when the Commissioner’s encouraging smile 
smote her with a feeling of treachery, in that she had 
appealed to him against Dick. 

The regimental prize-winners came up in their order, the 
natives, now that the momentary excitement was over, 
wearing a look of stately boredom, which seemed to declare 
that sports and prizes alike were a species of child’s play, 
in which they took part merely to humour the unaccount- 
able whims of their officers. With the officers it was dif- 
ferent, for Mabel read in their faces that although sports 
were good, and to earn a prize was better, both these faded 
into insignificance compared with the joy of receiving that 
prize from her hand. This was the very feeling that it 
most pleased her to inspire, and she loved the “ boys,” as 



“MAIJKL STKI’PKI) FORWARD, AND MET THE GLANCE OF THE BOLD 
EYES UNDER THE GREEN TURBAN ” 


0 



THE OUTSIDER. 43 

she called them in her thoughts, better than before, if that 
were possible. 

But this glow of pleasure was shortlived. A brief pause 
followed the appearance of the Sikh head-man to receive the 
tug-of-war prize, and Mabel felt, without turning her head, 
that Dick’s silent disapproval had infected all the English- 
men around. Once more she hardened her heart. It was 
detestable to see this wretched racial snobbishness in the 
men she had admired so much. They would have liked to 
spoil the whole affair, and deprive her of the one piece of 
romance which had come to brighten the humdrum proceed- 
ings, rather than allow a native not belonging to the regiment 
to carry off a prize. She, at least, was above such petty con- 
siderations, and Bahram Khan should receive as gracious a 
smile as any of his feUow-competitors. One other person 
was of her mind, she saw, for the Commissioner clapped his 
hands lightly, and with infinite condescension, as Bahram 
Khan swaggered up. Mabel stepped forward, and met the 
glance of the bold eyes under the green turban. As she 
did so, she understood suddenly the secret of Dick’s dis- 
pleasure. The smile faded from her lips, and the hand 
in which she held the Keeling Cup trembled. She stopped 
and faltered, and her pause of distress was evident to the 
men behind her. How they responded to her mute appeal 
she could not tell, but the look of insolent admiration dis- 
appeared from Bahram Khan’s eyes, into which she was 
still gazing spell-bound, and was, as it were, veiled under 
his former expression of contemptuous indifference towards 
his surroundings. A few words from the Commissioner, and 
the Nalapur Prince retired, leaving behind him a general 
feeling of awkwardness. If it had been arranged that any- 
thing else was to be done at this point, no one remembered 
it. People stood about in little groups, and talked some- 
what constrainedly. Something had happened, or rather, 
there had been an electrical instant, and something might 
have happened, but it was not quite easy to see what it 
was. The crudest conception of the facts was voiced by 
Mrs Hardy, who had torn herself from her school-work 
to be present at the prize-giving, and now seized upon 
Georgia. 

“ Oh, dear Mrs North, how unspeakably painful all this 
must be to you and your husband! You must feel the 


44 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


charge of Miss North a dreadful responsibility. I would 
never have said a word while she flirted merely with our 
own officers, or even with Mr Burgrave — though really the 
lengths to which she goes — ! But to set herself deliber- 
ately to dazzle a native ” 

“Mrs Hardy,” cried Georgia, flushing angrily, “please 
remember that you are speaking of my sister. I am certain 
that Mabel has never dreamt of such a thing. She may be 
thoughtless, but that is all.” 

“ It is very sweet and good of you to say it, but I am 
afraid your eyes will soon be disagreeably opened. No 
rational being could doubt that Miss North is setting her 
cap at the Commissioner, and that would hardly be a match 
you could welcome, would it? Look at her dress — so 
absurdly unsuitable at her age. Oh, I know to a day how 
old she is, Mrs North, and I will say that eight years be- 
tween you don’t warrant your dressing as if you were 
mother and daughter. But I grant that Miss North is one 
of the people who always look younger than they are, while 
you invariably look older.” 

The expression of Mrs Hardy’s sympathy rarely corres- 
ponded with the good-will which prompted it, but Georgia 
received the stab in heroic silence, and cast about for some 
means of changing the subject. 

“ I suppose we may as well go home now,” she said at last 
in despair, rising as she spoke. “ Where is my husband, I 
wonder ? ” 

“Over there, talking to the Commissioner and Bahram 
Khan,” responded Mrs Hardy. “ Dear me ! something 
must have happened. There is a messenger who seems to 
have brought some news. How grave they all look ! What 
can it be ? ” 

Watching eagerly, they saw Bahram Khan take his leave 
of Mr Burgrave and Dick and rejoin his friends. As the 
two gentlemen returned to the rest of the company the 
Commissioner said, slightly raising his tones in a way that 
attracted general attention, “ Well, except for the sake of 
the poor fellow himself, I can’t pretend to be sorry. The 
way is now clear for important developments.” 

Dick’s reply was inaudible, but the Commissioner re- 
joined sharply, “ Of course you put this down to Bahram 
Khan’s account ? ” 


THE OUTSIDER. 


45 


“I make no accusations,” said Dick, unmoved. “You 
can’t perceive more clearly than I do that it’s impossible to 
connect him with it.” 

“You deal in ambiguities, I see.” Mr Burgrave’s tem- 
per was evidently ruffled. 

“ There is no ambiguity in my mind,” was the reply, as 
Dick beckoned to a servant to fetch up Ms dog-cart. “ Are 
you coming with me, Georgie, or shall I take Mabel 1 ” 

“ Oh no, Mr Anstruther will drive her home,” said 
Georgia, aghast at the thought of an encounter between 
Dick in his present mood and Mabel at her prickliest. 
“ Dick,” as the Commissioner turned to speak to Mrs 
Hardy, “what has happened T’ 

“ Hush ! speak lower. Bahadar Shah is dead.” 

“ What ! poisoned 1 ” 

“No, shot. He was out hunting, and one of his most 
trusted servants was carrying his spare gun loaded. As he 
handed it to him it went off, and Bahadar Shah was shot 
through the heart.” 

“ And what happened to the servant 1 ” 

“The rest fell upon him and clubbed him to death 
immediately.” 

“ But of course it was Bahram Khan’s doing 1 ” 

“ ’Sh ! He has established a satisfactory alibi, at any 
rate.” Dick helped Georgia into the cart and took the 
reins, and they were well on the road home before he spoke 
again. “It is the killing of the servant that’s the most 
suspicious feature to me. It would be just like Bahram 
Khan to bribe him to murder his master on the under- 
standing that his escape should be secured, and then to 
make matters safe by bribing the rest to put him out of 
the way.” 

“ But surely that would only involve admitting more into 
the secret ? ” 

“ What secret ? Bahram Kkan is anxious for his cousin’s 
safety, and charges the servants to show no mercy to any one 
that attacks him. The utmost you could prove against 
him would be an idea that an attempt on his life might be 
made — not even a guilty knowledge, far less instigation.” 

“ How did he receive the news 1 ” 

“In the most orthodox way, deep but restrained grief. 
He must go to Nalapur to be present at the funeral and 


46 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


comfort his bereaved uncle, he told Burgrave, just as if his 
uncle would not sooner see a man-eater come to comfort him. 
How Burgrave received the news, you heard.” 

“ Yes. His manner was indecently callous, I thought.” 

“Oh no. His saying what he did was one of his cal- 
culated indiscretions, like unveiling his policy to Timson 
coming up. No papers here, you see, so he must make his 
revelations by word of mouth. Ugh ! the man turns me 
sick. Did you notice his bit of by-play with Mab 1 ” 

“ She didn’t realise what you meant, Dick. Things here 
are so new to her, you know.” 

“Oh, why should a man be doomed to have a fool for 
a sister ? If I had said to you what I said to her you would 
have understood.” 

“Perhaps Mab hasn’t studied you as closely as I 
have.” 

“No, the Commissioner is her object of study at present. 
Nice cheerful prospect, isn’t it — to have that chap for a 
brother-in-law ? ” 

“Ye-es,” said Georgia hesitatingly, “but I’m not quite 
sure it will be that, Dick. I tlunk there’s some one 
else.” 

“And the Commissioner is only making the pace for 
him? No, no, Georgie; that’s a little too thick. Of course 
I know there are dozens of others, but who is there that 
has a chance against Burgrave ? ” 

“If I teU you, you’ll only laugh. It is a very little 
thing, but it’s the straw to show which way the wind is 
blowing. You didn’t notice, when. Bahram Khan had had 
his prize, how Mab was left sitting alone for a minute. I 
knew just how she felt, ashamed and miserable and wounded, 
and I wanted to go to her, but Mrs Hardy had got hold 
of me, and I didn’t think she would improve matters. The 
Commissioner didn’t see — he never does see what other 
people are feeling, unless he happens to be feeling the same 
himself — but Fitz Anstruther did. He was by her side in 
a moment, saying just the kind of things that would lead 
her to forget her mortification. If he had seemed to intend 
to help her, she would have been angry, but it looked quite 
accidental, as if it was simply that he took pleasure in her 
society, and jumped at the chance of enjoying it when he 
found her alone for a minute. She will be grateful to him 


THE OUTSIDER. 47 

ever after, and that may be the beginning of even better 
things.” 

“Oh, you match-makers! The idea of coupling Mab 
and Anstruther, of all people I And you back him against 
the Commissioner ? ” 

“I do ; unless Mab is deliberately playing for a high 
official future.” 


CHAPTER V. 


EOSB OF THE WORLD. 

“Awfully sorry, Mab, but I really can’t ride with you 
this morning. It’s bad enough when one of our wandering 
tribes comes in for a palaver, but to-day there are two of them, 
at daggers drawn with one another. They have both sent 
deputations to inform me that I am their father and their 
mother, and will I be good enough to pulverise the other 
lot? That means that I have a nice long day’s work cut 
out for me.” 

“ Oh, what a bother ! ” grumbled Mabel. “ And Georgia 
has got a lot of dreadful women in the surgery, and ia 
doctoring them aU round. How can she bear to have them 
about? Do you like having an M.D. for a wife, Dick?” 

“ Peisonally,” said Dick solemnly, “I rather do; since 
Georgia is that M.D. Politically, it’s the making of me.” 

“No; really?” 

“Rather ! Every woman of all these nomadic tribes has 
a stake in the country, so to speak — a personal interest in 
the maintenance of the system of government which has 
stuck Georgie and me down here. No Sarkar, no doctor ; 
that’s the way they look at it.” 

“Well,” said Mabel, somewhat ashamed, “if it wasn’t 
that I have my habit on, I would stay and help her. But 
we were going to try LaiH, Dick, and you promised faith- 
fully to come.” 

“ I know ; it’s horribly rough on you. But I tell you 
what I’ll do. I’ll spare Anstruther to you for the morning, 
and he must ride out to me after lunch. Don’t break his 
neck first, mind.” 

“ But will it be safe for you to go alone ? Aren’t you 
afraid?” 

“ Shade of my mighty father-in-law ! afraid of what ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know. It sounds the sort of thing ” 

48 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 


49 


“That one would naturally be afraid of? No, I would 
rather face any number of excited tribesmen than Burgrave 
at his blandest. I’ll send a chit down to Anstruther, and 
he’ll be here in a few minutes.” 

Mabel had not long to wait. She was still standing on 
the verandah, flicking her dainty riding-boot with her whip, 
and feasting her eyes on the satin skin of the beautiful 
little black mare which was being led up and down by the 
groom, when Fitz came trotting up the drive. 

“Awfully good of the Major to lend me out this morning, 
Miss North ! Is that the new pony? She ought to be a 
flier.” 

“ Yes, isn’t she a little beauty ? I want to test her paces 
to-day. I have had enough of riding her about the roads. 
She’s all right there, but I should like to try her in a good 
gallop out in the desert.” 

“ Out in the desert ? ” repeated Fitz, as he gathered up 
the reins and handed them to Mabel after mounting her. 
“ Well, I don’t suppose there’s any reason why we shouldn’t. 
If you don’t mind stopping a second at my place I’ll put a 
revolver in my pocket, and then we shall be all right.” 

“ Why, what could there be to hurt us ? ” 

“ We might happen upon a leopard, or something of the 
sort. It’s not likely, but there’s no harm in being prepared. 
We have a sort of fashion here of not going much beyond 
our own bounds unarmed.” 

Mabel made no further objection, and after calling at 
Fitz’s quarters they rode out into the desert. Laili’s paces 
were perfect, and as often as Mabel raced her against Fitz’s 
pony she won easily. It was a clear, cold morning, really 
cold, as is often the case early on a winter’s day in Khemi- 
stan, and horses and riders alike seemed to be possessed of 
tireless energy. The two grooms, to whom the cold was a 
highly disagreeable experience, were left behind again and 
again, and remembered only when they had become mere 
dots on the horizon, so that it involved some waiting before 
they could come up. 

“Now let us race again ! ” cried Mabel, when she and 
Fitz had reluctantly walked their horses for some distance 
to allow the men to approach them. 

“ All right. I say, there’s a jerboa ! Let’s chase 
him!” 

D 


50 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ Oh, do. I should so like to have one for a pet,” cried 
Mabel. 

It seemed, however, that the jerboa preferred freedom to 
captivity, even with Mabel as jailer, for it was gone in a 
moment, getting over the ground in tremendous leaps, at a 
pace which taxed the horses sorely to keep up with it. 

“ Oh, it’s getting away ! ” lamented Mabel. 

“Perhaps I can manage to wing him from here,” said 
Fitz, bringing out his revolver. “We could easily patch 
up a broken leg. Steady, Sheikh, old boy ! ” 

The pace was fast and the ground rough, and it was 
scarcely surprising that the jerboa escaped unscathed, but 
Fitz’s shot had an effect that he had not anticipated. At 
the sound Mabel’s little mare stopped dead with a sudden- 
ness which jerked the rider’s foot from the stirrup and 
nearly threw her out of the saddle, then took the bit in her 
teeth and dashed away in a frenzy of terror. Pull as she 
might, Mabel could not stop her, nor could she get her 
foot again into the stirrup. The horror of that wild rush 
through the whirling sand-clouds, with the wind shrieking 
in her ears, was such as she could never have imagined. 
Certain destruction seemed to be before her, for Laili was 
heading straight for the rocky ground at the foot of the 
mountains, where there was no hope that she would be able 
to keep her footing. Mabel was dimly conscious that she 
ought to come to some decision, or at least to select a 
moment at which to throw herself off, but all her powers 
seemed to be concentrated in the effort to pull up, or at 
any rate to turn the pony’s head towards the open desert. 
As it was, Laili made the decision for her. An isolated 
rock, revealed unexpectedly by a lull in the wind, which 
caused the drifting sand to settle for a moment, stood on 
the left hand of the course she was taking, and catching 
sight of it, she swerved away so violently that Mabel found 
herself all at once in a sitting position upon the sand. 
There she remained, too much dazed to make any attempt 
to rise, until Fitz dashed up, and flung himself recklessly 
from his horse, which promptly continued the chase of the 
runaway on its own account. 

“ Oh, thank God you are not killed ! ” he cried brokenly 
to Mabel, his sunburnt face ghastly pale. “But you are 
frightfully hurt ! What is it — your back ? Oh, for 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 


51 


Heaven’s sake, Miss North, try to move ! Is your leg 
broken 1 Don’t say it’s your back ! ” 

Mabel repressed a weak desire to laugh. “I — I think 
I’m sitting here because you haven’t offered to help me up,” 
she replied, as well as her chattering teeth would let her. 

He helped her up in silence, and began mechanically to 
brush the dust from her habit with shaking hands. When 
at last he looked up at her, Mabel saw that his lips were 
still trembling, and his eyes full of horror. 

“ Oh, don’t look like that about me ! ” she cried impul- 
sively. “ I’m not worth it.” 

“Not worth it?” he cried violently, then, controlling 
himself with an effort, he made a fair attempt at a laugh. 
“If anything had happened to you, I should never have 
dared to face the Major and Mrs. North again,” he said. 
“ Or rather, I could not have faced my own thoughts.” 

“ But why ? ” asked Mabel, mystified. 

“Because it was all my fault for firing that shot — 
wretched thoughtless hea&t that I am ! I would have 
blown my brains out.” 

“ Now that is wicked,” said Mabel with decision, “ and 
foolish too. But if you are going to talk in this agitating 
way, I think I should like to sit down in the shade over 
there. I feel rather shaky still.” 

“ I’m an unfeeling idiot ! Lean on me, please.” 

He supported her gently across the intervening space, 
and found a seat for her on a fragment of rock, in a nook 
which furnished a partial shelter from the sun and the whirl- 
ing sand. She made room for him beside her, but he persisted 
in tramping up and down, his face twitching painfully. 

“ I can’t stay quiet ! ” he cried, in answer to her re- 
monstrance. “ When I think it’s just a chance — a mercy, 
Mrs. North would say — that you’re not — not — ” he skipped 
the word — “ at this moment, it knocks me over. And all 
my fault ! ” 

Mabel’s renewed protest was cut short by the appearance 
of the two grooms, who ran up with scared faces, and 
inquired dolefully which way the horses had gone, and 
whether the Presences would wait where they were until 
the missing steeds had been captured and brought back. 

“Why, what else should we do?” asked Fitz, calm 
enough now in the presence of the alien race. His own 


52 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


groom hastened to reply that Dera Gul, the ancestral 
stronghold of Bahram Khan, was only a bow-shot off, and 
that there the Presences might find rest and refreshment. 

“ Not if I know it ! ” was Fitz’s mental comment. “ It’s 
a blessing that the principal villain himself is away at 
Nalapur, but we won’t trespass on the hospitality of his 
vassals in his absence. We will wait here,” he added to 
the servant, who replied sullenly that his honour’s words 
were law, and departed with his companion in search of the 
horses. 

“What was he saying 1” asked Mabel curiously. 

“Oh, only gassing a little about the neighbourhood,” 
replied Fitz, who had had time to decide that he would not 
alarm his charge by telling her exactly where they were. 
It did not occur to him that the uneasiness with which 
Bahram Khan’s glance had inspired Mabel three days before 
had resolved itseK into a sense of offended pride at what 
she took to be a premeditated insult, and that no idea of 
any danger to herself personally had ever entered her mind. 
He did his best, therefore, to divert her thoughts from the 
question of the locality, and was congratulating himself 
upon his success when a little procession appeared round 
the corner of the cliff in whose shadow they were sitting. 
The principal figure was a sleek and shining Hindu, 
swathed in voluminous draperies of white muslin, with 
occasional glimpses of red brocade, who advanced with 
profound obeisances, and entreated the exalted personages 
before him to honour his master’s roof by deigning to rest 
under it until their horses were found. This time Fitz 
could not but refer the suggestion to Mabel, and he found 
to his surprise that she was inclined to accept it. 

“I shouldn’t care to meet Bahram Khan,” she said; 
“but he is away, you say.” 

“When did the Prince start for Nalapur 1” asked Fitz of 
the Hindu. 

“ Three days past, sahib — the same evening that he was 
present at the tamasha at Alibad.” 

“ There ! ” said Mabel, “ you see it’s all right. My hair 
is full of sand, and it is so hot here. One never knows 
what to wear in this climate. I don’t believe I shall be 
able to ride all that way back unless I can rest in a cool 
place for a little first.” 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 53 

“I am pretty sure Major North wouldn’t like it,” said 
Fitz doubtfully. 

The Hindu caught the purport of the words, and his 
countenance assumed an expression of the deepest woe, 
“It is the sad misfortune of the illustrious prince that 
Nath Sahib has ever looked upon him with disfavour,” he 
lamented. 

“ Oh dear ! ” remarked Mabel, when the words were 
translated to her ; “ it will be dreadful if these people get 
the idea that Dick has a causeless prejudice against Bahram 
Khan. We had much better show confidence in him by 
going to his house. Who knows ? It may be the beginning 
of better things.” 

“I shouldn’t like to take the responsibility,” began Fitz, 
but she cut him short. 

“ Very well ; I will take it, then. I am sure Dick will 
be glad if we can bring about a better understanding ; and 
I think it’s very inconsiderate of you to raise so many 
objections, when I have told you how hot and tired I am, 
and how I want a rest. It wasn’t my fault that we were 
stranded here, you know.” 

This ungenerous use of the weapon forged by himself 
conquered Fitz, and he consented, reluctantly, to accept the 
invitation brought by the Hindu. Mabel’s smile of approval 
ought to have been a sufficient reward for his complaisance, 
but it was not, for he felt an uncomfortable certainty that 
Dick would object very strongly to the visit when he came 
to hear of it. The Hindu led the way with much bowing, 
and Fitz and Mabel followed him a short distance to the 
gateway of the fortress, which was situated on the farther 
side of the projecting cliflf that had sheltered them. Two 
or three wild-looking men, apparently half asleep, were 
lounging about, but otherwise the place seemed to be 
deserted. The Hindu led them across the courtyard and 
up a flight of steps into a large cool hall, furnished solely 
with a carpeted divan and many cushions. Sapng that 
sherbet and sweetmeats should be brought to them im- 
mediately, he left them alone, ostensibly to hasten the 
appearance of the refreshments. As he crossed the court, 
however, Fitz, watching him idly, saw him glance up to the 
ramparts. Here, to his astonishment, the young man per- 
ceived Bahram Khan himself beginning to descend the 


54 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


steps which led down into the yard. Mabel had also 
caught sight of the apparition, and Fitz’s eyes met hers. 

“ The great thing is not to show any sign of fear,” he 
said hastily. 

“I’m not frightened,” retorted Mabel; “but I’m not 
going to sit here to be stared at by that man. You must 
teU him that I have come to see the ladies of the house, 
whoever they may be.” 

“ I daren’t let you go into the zenana. Anything might 
happen there, and an army couldn’t rescue you.” 

“But what could happen 1 You would keep Bahram 
Khan under your eye, of course. And you forget that his 
mother is one of Georgia’s patients. She will be delighted 
to see me.” 

“ Oh, that’s better, naturally. I will take up a strategic 
position in this corner of the divan, so that I can cover my 
host comfortably, without the risk of being seized from be- 
hind. But look here, won’t you take my revolver? I 
should hear if you fired a shot.” 

“No, thanks. I did learn to shoot once, but if I fired 
now I’m afraid the result would be disastrous to myself 
alone. Besides, how could you rescue me without a weapon 
of any sort ? I shall feel much safer with the revolver in 
your possession, for I am pretty sure you won’t leave the 
place without me.” 

The last words were spoken as Bahram Khan entered the 
hall, and Fitz had no opportunity to reply. There was a 
suppressed excitement in the Prince’s manner which made 
him uneasy, and he begged at once that Mabel might bear 
the salutations of the doctor lady to the dweUers behind the 
curtain. Bahram Khan’s face fell, and although he pro- 
tested that the honour shown to his household was over- 
whelming, it was fairly clear that no honour could well have 
been more unwelcome. The ladies had only just arrived, 
and had not yet settled down properly in their new quarters ; 
they had had no opportunity of making fit preparation for 
so distinguished a visitor, and it was contrary to all the rules 
of etiquette that the doctor lady should despatch a mes- 
senger to visit them before they had sent their respects to 
her. 

“Oh, very well, I won’t make my call to-day,” said 
Mabel, rising, when Fitz had translated the long string of 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 65 

apologies that fell from the lips of the embarrassed host. 
“ Then we may as well come, Mr Anstruther.” 

But this was not what Bahram Khan desired, and after 
vainly endeavouring to persuade Mabel to sit down on the 
cushions again, he summoned a slave-boy, and ordered him 
to fetch Jehanara. 

“ There must be some one to interpret between the Miss 
Sahib and the women,”> he explained, and Mabel wondered 
why Fitz looked so stern and so uncomfortable. Presently 
the curtain at the end of the room was shaken a little, and 
Bahram Khan rose and spoke in a low voice through it to 
the person behind. Then he beckoned to Mabel, the curtain 
was raised slightly, and she passed through, to find herself 
in a small dark antechamber. A stout woman in native 
dress stood there, with a great key in her hand, and un- 
locking a door, motioned her into a dim passage. It was 
so gloomy and mysterious that she was conscious of a 
moment’s hesitation, but as soon as the door was shut the 
woman began to speak in English, as rapidly as if she was 
reciting a history she had learnt by heart. She spoke 
mincingly, and with a peculiar clipping accent which struck 
Mabel as disagreeable. 

“Yes, Miss North, and I don’t wonder you’re surprised, 
I’m sure, to find me here, and as English as yourself. My 
poor papa was riding-master in a European regiment — none 
of your Black Horse — and my mamma was pure-blood 
Portuguese, and yet here I am.” 

Even to the inexperienced eye the woman’s own face, 
though seen only in the half-light, gave the lie to her claim 
of pure European descent, but Mabel had not yet acquired 
the Anglo-Indian’s skill in distinguishing shades of colour, 
and did not care to dispute the assertion. Having taken 
breath, Jehanara went on — 

“Yes, and I was educated at a real pucca boarding- 
school in the hills. Miss North— quite genteel, I assure you ; 
one of the young ladies was the daughter of the Collector of 
Krishnaganj. And everything done so handsome — china- 
painting and making wax flowers, and all the extras — no 
expense spared. I wish I could lay my hands on some of 
the rupees that were poured out like water on my educa- 
tion, I do. I should commence to astonish the people about 
here, I assure you. Miss North.” 


56 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“You must have found this life very trying at first,” 
murmured Mabel. 

“ Trying’s no word for it, Miss North ; it was just simply 
slavery. And I, that thought to be a princess, reduced to 
be treated like a common coolie woman, and thankful for 
that ! Oh, I’ve been deceived shamefully, Miss North, and 
there is that makes allowances for me, and there is that 
doesn’t ; but submit to be downtrodden I won’t be, not by 
any old black woman that calls herself a begum, nor yet by 
any fine gentleman officer that don’t think me good enough 
to talk to his lady wife.” 

Some instinct told Mabel that it would not be well to 
inquire too minutely into the means by which this waif of 
“gentility” had been stranded on such an inhospitable 
shore ; and to cut short the complaints, which threatened to 
become incoherent, she asked whether Jehanara knew her 
sister-in-law. 

“ Yes, Miss North, I do, and a real lady she is — no 
thanks to her high and mighty sahib of a husband. Spoke 
to me polite, she did, the only time I’ve seen her, and gave 
me some English books and papers to pass the time away. 
Not like Mrs Hardy — there’s a sanctimonious old cat for 
you, Miss North, and no mistake, drawing her dress away 
from me, and talking at me as if I was the very scum of the 
earth ! ” 

Mabel began to feel uncomfortable. Mrs Hardy’s judg- 
ments had not much weight with her, but it was evident 
that Dick had directed Georgia to hold no more intercourse 
with this person than civility required, and she thought it 
well to hint that her time was limited. 

“Oh, well, if you’re in such a hurry. Miss North, I’m 
sure I’m agreeable. A little talk with any one that’s English 
like myself is a treat I don’t often get, but I don’t desire 
to detain anybody to talk to me that doesn’t want to. The 
Begum will be ready to see you, I dare say.” 

She led the way down the passage and into a low dull 
room looking into a small paved courtyard, from which 
similar rooms opened on the other three sides. Here were 
assembled some fifteen or twenty women and girls, who had 
evidently made use of the time since Jehanara had been 
summoned to the visitor in fiinging on their best clothes 
over their ordinary garb. Robes of fine cloth, silk, or 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 


57 

brocade showed treacherous glimpses here and there of 
coarse cotton or woollen garments underneath, while the 
hair of the wearers was unplaited, and their eyelids innocent 
of colouring. They were not at all embarrassed, however, 
and crowded round Mabel with friendly interest ; all but 
one, who lay huddled up upon a bedstead in the farthest 
corner, with her face to the wall, and refused even to look 
round. The chief person present was Bahram Khan’s 
mother, who was known officially, from the name of her 
late husband, as the Hasrat Ali Begum, but whose personal 
title was the Moti-ul-Nissa, or Pearl of Women. She was 
an elderly woman, with a shrewd face showing considerable 
power, and she greeted Mabel with the kindness due to one 
who came from her friend the doctor lady, but also with a 
constraint which the visitor could not but recognise. 

Presently a privileged attendant of the Moti-ul-Nissa’s 
drew attention to the dusty state of Mabel’s habit, and in 
explaining, with the aid of Jehanara, what had happened to 
her, she was able to awaken the sympathies of her audience. 
Ready hands brushed off the dust, a bowl of perfumed 
water was brought that she might bathe her sun-scorched 
face, and she was eagerly entreated to take down her hair 
and shake the sand out of it. Not quite liking the look 
of the comb held out to her, however, she contented herself 
with coiling her hair afresh, while an eager girl held a 
cracked hand-mirror, with a battered wooden back, at an 
angle that made it absolutely useless. The women were 
loud in their exclamations of wonder and delight at the 
sight of the soft fair hair, and presently Mabel became 
aware that the girl in the corner had raised herself on her 
elbow, revealing a face beautiful in its outline, but now 
haggard and stained with tears, and was scowling at her 
with a look of unmistakable hatred. 

“Is there some one ill in that corner?” she asked of 
Jehanara. 

“ No, Miss North, not ill — angry and sullen, that’s all.” 

“ Poor thing ! in trouble, do you mean ? ” asked Mabel, 
rising and approaching the bed. The girl had turned away 
again when she saw that her glance was observed, and Mabel 
laid a hand upon her shoulder. “ Can I do anything to help 
you ? ” she asked. 

To her astonishment the girl shook off her hand as if 


58 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


it had been a snake, and springing up from the couch, 
burst into a torrent of vituperation. Her lithe young form 
shook with passion, her delicate hands were clenched, and 
her voice rose into a shrill scream. The other women strove 
in vain to quiet her, and Mabel’s eflforts to disarm her anger 
were fruitless, but the storm ceased as suddenly as it had 
arisen. Breaking off in the midst of a furious sentence, the 
girl threw up her arms in a gesture of utter despair, then 
dashed herself down again upon the bed, sobbing as though 
her heart would break. 

“ What is the matter with her 1 ” asked Mabel, astounded 
and somewhat offended by this reception of her friendly 
overtures. “ What does she say 1 ” 

Jehanara looked inquiringly at the Moti-ul-Nissa. A 
nod gave her permission to interpret, and she replied 
glibly— 

“Why, Miss North, she says she hates you, that you’ve 
stolen away her husband with your airs and graces, and then 
come to gloat over her. You mustn’t mind what she says. 
It’s the way with these native women; they’re so sadly 
uncontrolled, you see.” 

“ But I haven’t stolen away her husband. Tell her so. 
What can she mean “? Who is she f ” 

The other women, breathlessly interested, gathered round 
while Jehanara interpreted the answer to the girl, who sat 
up with streaming eyes, and poured forth a succession of 
fierce, abrupt sentences. 

“She says. Miss North, ‘I am Zeynab, called Rose of the 
World, daughter of Fath-ud-Din, the King of Ethiopia’s 
Grand Vizier, and the fair-haired woman ’ — that’s you. Miss 
North — ‘ has stolen from me the heart of Bahram Khan, my 
lord. She has beguiled him to cast me off — me, Fath-ud-Din’s 
daughter — that she may have his house to herself, and now 
she comes to mock me. But let her beware. The witch 
Khadija was not my nurse for nothing, and if poison can 
disfigure, or steel kill, or fire burn, she shall pay every anTia 
that she owes me.’ Don’t you go and take it to heart, Miss 
North ; she’s a poor, wild, uneducated creature, not brought 
up like us.” 

“ But she must be mad ! ” cried Mabel. “ Tell her she is 
making some extraordinary mistake ; that I wouldn’t touch 
her husband with a pair of tongs — that I hate the very sight 


ROSE OF THE WORLD. 


69 


of him. Tell her that nothing would make me marry him 
if he was free, that my religion would forbid it ; and as he is 
married already, our law forbids it. Tell her that even if 
I wanted to marry him, my brother would see me dead first 
— that I would beg him to kill me before I stooped to such 
degradation.” 

Even Jehanara cringed before Mabel in her crimson 
indignation, and translated her words without comment. 
The women looked at one another doubtfully, and the 
Moti-ul-Nissa frowned. The forsaken wife spoke again in 
bitter disdain — 

“It is a fine thing to talk thus, when the fair-haired 
woman has robbed me of my lord’s heart for ever. Since 
she cares so little for it, why did she not leave it with 
Zeynab ? ” 

“ For anything that I have done, it is hers still,” said 
Mabel desperately. “ Ask my sister, the doctor lady, if it 
is not so. You know her, all of you.” 

“Ah, woe is me!” cried Zeynab. “Why did not the 
doctor lady leave me to die as a little child, rather than 
save me by her art that misery might come upon me through 
one of her own house ? ” 

“ Peace, girl ! ” said the Moti-ul-Nissa. “ The doctor lady 
knows not yet that thou art my son’s wife. It is not through 
her that this trouble has come. I will send a message to 
her, that she may tell us what to do. If the words of her 
sister here are true words — ” she broke off and looked 
keenly at Mabel — “it may be that she is one of those that 
ensnare men even without their own will ; but such women 
ought not to place themselves where men are forced to 
behold them.” 

Mabel digested the rebuke, translated with startling 
plainness by Jehanara, as well as she might. “I am very 
sorry,” she said in a low voice. “ My brother said just the 
same to me, but I have only been here a short time, and I 
didn’t understand things. Please forgive me,” she added, 
looking first at Zeynab and then at her mother-in-law. “ I 
never dreamed that such a thing could happen, and I will 
take care that it never does again.” 

“Never again is too late for me,” said Zeynab bitterly. 

“ Peace I ” said the old lady again. “ Is it nothing to 
thee that the doctor lady’s sister has humbled herself before 


60 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


thee ? Now it is for thee to win back thy lord as best thou 
mayest. And as for thee, Miss Sahib,” added the Moti-ul- 
Nissa severely, “ choose thee a husband quickly, since that 
is the custom of thy people, and see that he is such a man 
as will slay any other that casts his eyes upon thee.” 

“ The Sahib desires the Miss Sahib to be told that the 
horses have been found, and all is ready,” said the little 
slave-boy, pushing himself unbidden into the group, and 
Mabel wasted no time over her farewells. 

“I really think I have never been so uncomfortable 
before ! ” she said to herself, as she got out of the room. 

“Now you see. Miss North, what a trial it is to me to 
live among such coarse, ungenteel creatures as these,” said 
Jehanara. 


CHAPTER VI. 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 

" Poor dear Laili ! ” sighed Mabel, patting the dust-begrimed 
neck of the little mare. There was no fear of Laili’s 
running away now, although she had spirit enough left to 
struggle gamely through the sand, miles of which still 
stretched between her and home. 

“ I don’t think she’ll be any the worse when she’s had a 
good rest and feed,” said Fitz consolingly. 

“ Oh no, I hope not ! But I know Dick will never let 
me ride her again.” 

“Of course; it really wouldn’t be safe. The regiment 
are so often at carbine practice, you know, and the tribes- 
men can’t come near the town without letting off their 
jezails to show their friends they have arrived. It’s quite 
an exception when a day passes without our hearing shots 
of some kind.” 

“ I know. But she is such a beauty, I can’t bear to give 
her up.” 

“Look here. Miss North; a bright idea! Will you let 
me try to break her of this frivolous habit of hers ? I’m 
generally considered rather good with horses, and there’s 
nothing I should like better than to train her properly 
for you.” 

“Oh, could you really? Of course I have still got 
Majnun, but he is so uninteresting to ride compared with 
her. But won’t it give you a great deal of trouble ? ” 

“Trouble? Not a bit! I wish it would. Then you 
might set it down as some sort of atonement for my care- 
lessness in nearly getting you killed to-day. But anyhow. 
I’ll do my best with her, honour bright ! If the Major 
will give her stable-room to-night, I’ll have a box cleared 
out for her at my place. My stables are crammed with 
ridiculous old rubbish that has come down to me from 

61 


62 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


General Keeling’s time, and my horses camp in the middle 
of it. By-the-bye, do you know I can’t feel as I did about 
Sheikh here” — he looked askance at his own handsome 
pony — “since Bahram Khan won the Cup on himi It 
seems as if he must be an awful traitor to sell his master 
in that style, you see. I distinctly saw the fellow whisper 
in his ear before he mounted him, and he was like a lamb 
at once, instead of flinging his heels all over the shop, as 
he had been doing the moment before. Now suppose he’s 
been hypnotised once and for all, what’s to happen if he 
chooses to trot off and attach himself to Bahram Khan 
any day we may chance to meet him ? I shall look a nice 
sort of fool.” 

“ Have Bahram Khan arrested for horse-stealing, I should 
think,” said Mabel, with a rather forced laugh. “ But how 
is it that that dreadful man is here at all? I hope you 
had a word or two with the Hindu who told us he was 
away?” 

“Ah, but he had us there, unfortunately. Narayan Singh 
told us that his master had started for Nalapur, but we 
didn’t ask whether he had come back, so he wasn’t obliged 
to say anything, and he didn’t. Bahram Khan told me 
himself how it happens that he’s here. It seems that when 
he got to Nalapur his uncle intimated that he could run 
the funeral without his assistance, and more than hinted, 
as I understand, that he had had too much to do with it 
already. Hence he thinks it well to hide his cousinly grief 
in his ancestral fortress, until he can get the Commissioner 
to tackle Ashraf Ali for him again, I suppose.” 

“ More trouble ! ” sighed Mabel. 

“ I’m afraid so. The Kumpsioner Sahib is scarcely likely 
to take such a slap in the face quietly. His proUg4 has 
been snubbed, and I rather think he will want to know the 
reason why.” 

Mabel sighed again, and they spoke little after that, 
except to encourage the horses as they toiled through the 
loose sand. Arrived at the gate of the compound, she 
asked Fitz to come in and have some lunch, but he 
laughed. 

“No lunch for me to-day. Miss North. I must tear 
home and get a fresh horse and ride out to the Major. 
You don’t realise that I have taken a good bit of the after- 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 63 

noon ofF as well as the morning that he granted me, and 
that the wigging I shall get is thoroughly well earned.” 

“I’ll intercede for you the minute Dick comes in.” 

“Ah, it will have happened before that. But never 
mind ; it’s in a fair and honest cause — couldn’t be in a 
fairer,” added Fitz audaciously, as he rode off. 

“ I’m afraid that boy is going to be silly,” said Mabel 
solemnly to herself as she mounted the verandah steps ; 
but on catching sight of Georgia, all thought of Fitz and 
his foolishness faded from her mind. 

“Oh, Georgie, such a day of adventures! I’ve been 
thrown, and I’ve paid a morning call on Bahram Khan 
and found him at home, and I’ve penetrated into the re- 
cesses of an Eastern harem, and I’ve been talked to more 
disagreeably than I ever was in my life.” 

“ Mab ! ” was Georgia’s horrified exclamation, “ how could 
you ? How could Mr Anstruther let you ? Was the harem 
Bahram KKan’s 1 ” 

“ Yes, of course, and Mr Anstruther had no voice in the 
matter. I preferred to sit with the ladies rather than with 
their lord and master, naturally. And oh, Georgie ! Bahram 
Khan’s Ethiopian wife is your little Zeynab, Fath-ud-Din’s 
daughter, and she thinks — she thinks — I don’t know how 
to say it— she has got it into her head that I aspire to the 
honour of being the second Mrs Bahram Khan.” 

“ Mab ! ” cried Georgia again, helplessly. 

“Yes, and there was a fearful yellow woman there who 
says she’s English ” 

“I know, that dreadful person Jehanara. Oh, Mab, 
Dick will be terribly angry when he knows you have 
been talking to her ! She is Bahram Khan’s evil genius — 
inspires aU his plots first, and then helps him to carry 
them out. She came here once as his ambassadress, but 
Dick would have nothing to do with her, and forbade me 
to let her come into the house. You see, politicals have 
to be very jealous of any Europeans or Eurasians’ gaining 
influence -with native princes. And now she will make 
capital out of your having spoken to her.” 

“ My dear Georgie, will you kindly tell me how I could 
help speaking to her when she was the only possible inter- 
preter between the ladies and me 1 Keally one might think 
I had arranged that all these horrid things should happen, 


64 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


when you know they were pure accidents. And you won’t 
sympathise a bit, though I’m almost out of my mind with 
worry. These women will believe you ; tell them, assure 
them, swear to them, that I have no designs on Bahram 
Khan, for if they go on thinking I have, I don’t know what 
I shall do.” 

“ I can put that right, at any rate, but Dick will be so 
vexed ” 

“ Dick ! ” Mabel almost screamed. “ Dick is to know 
nothing of this. Georgie, I absolutely forbid you to say 
a word to him about it. Isn’t it enough for him to be 
always casting up against me what happened the other day, 
without having this to bother me about as well 1 ” 

“ You must have a horribly guilty conscience, Mab. I’m 
sure Dick has never said a word to you about the other 
day.” 

“ No, but he has looked it, again and again. And I will 
not have him told about this absurd fancy of poor jealous 
Zeynab’s. You couldn’t be so dishonourable, Georgie, as 
to tell your husband another person’s secret against her 
will.” 

“ I can’t tell him if you forbid it, but I wish you would 
let me. Very likely it is some plot of Jehanara’s to make 
the poor little wife miserable, but it may have some poli- 
tical bearing, and I think he ought to know. Do let me 
tell him, Mab.” 

“No, you’re not to. I shall never have the smallest con- 
fidence in you again if you do. It can’t concern Dick or 
anybody but myself, and the only reason I told you was 
that you might use your influence with the women to make 
them see how silly the idea was. If you tell any one else 
about it, we shan’t be friends any more.” 

Some four days later Georgia was returning home from 
afternoon tea at the Grahams’. She had left Mabel behind 
her to comfort Flora, whose Jlanc^ had returned to his 
duties at Fort Shah Nawaz, and Dick had ridden across the 
frontier to settle a tribal dispute, and would not be back 
till late. Georgia felt tired and depressed, and visions of 
the couch in her own room, and the latest magazines that 
had reached Alibad, floated enticingly before her. As she 
drove up to the house, however, she caught a glimpse of a 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 


65 


camel kneeling down to its meal, a heap of fodder piled on 
a piece of rough cloth, in the stable-yard. One of the 
high hooded saddles used by native women of distinction 
lay near it, and two or three strange men were gossiping 
with the servants. The inference was obvious, and Georgia 
felt no surprise when her maid Rahah met her with the 
announcement that the Eye-of-the-Begum was waiting to see 
her. Mysterious as the words sounded, they referred only 
to the confidential attendant of the Moti-ul-Nissa, and the 
old woman was very soon established on the floor of 
Georgia’s room. The curtain over the door, which served 
as a danger-signal on these occasions, was drawn, and 
Rahah stationed outside it to warn Dick not to intrude 
when he returned, and the visitor was therefore able to lay 
aside her veil and make herself at home. As for Georgia, 
she had learnt by experience that however little a native 
might have to tell, he or she invariably displayed a mis- 
directed ingenuity in lengthening out the telling of it, and 
she resigned herseK to the loss of the quiet time she had 
anticipated, and made the customary polite inquiries with 
every sign of cordial interest. When these had been 
answered, and the Eye-of-the-Begum had duly asked after 
Mabel’s health, and (in modest periphrases), after that of 
Dick, and delivered her mistress’s scdaams and good wishes 
to Georgia, paying a compliment in passing to her hostess’s 
colfee and sweets, she prepared at last to approach the 
subject of business, but strictly in her own fashion. 

“Many years ago, O doctor lady,” she began, “a troop 
of robbers met a man leading a fine horse richly caparisoned. 

‘ O brother, who art thou ? ’ asked they. ‘ I am So-and-so, 
the servant of Such-an-one, and I am taking this horse to 
my master’s son as a gift from his uncle,’ he replied. Then 
they seized and carried off the horse, and beat the man, 
but let him go. But verily it was his fate to be unfortunate 
that day, for he fell in with a second troop of robbers, who 
also asked him who he was. ‘Truly,’ said he, ‘I am 
So-and-so, the servant of Such-an-one, and I carry to my 
master’s son as a gift from his father a gold chain which is 
concealed in my turban.’ Now before this they had in- 
tended to kill him, but finding the chain, they took it and 
his clothes, and bade him make haste to depart. Hiding 
by day and travelling by night, he accomplished the rest of 

E 


66 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


his journey, and presented himself before his master’s son, 
who, seeing a footsore man wearing only a ragged loincloth, 
asked him in astonishment who he was. ‘Verily,’ he said, 
‘ I am So-and-so, the servant of Such-an-one, and I bring to 
my master’s son the gift that his mother has sent him.’ 
And thus saying, he took from his armpit the great pearl 
which is nowadays called the Mountain of Milk, which is 
among the treasures of the Amirs of Nalapur, having 
carried it safely through the country of the robbers. Then 
his master’s son commanded that a robe of honour should 
be put upon him, and gave him a horse and arms.” 

“ He thoroughly deserved them,” said Georgia. 

“ True, O doctor lady. But thy servant is now as that 
messenger was. Here is my horse with the rich trappings,” 
she held out an empty liniment bottle. “ The pains which 
were banished by the medicine from my mistress’s limbs 
have now returned, and she desires more of it. But of the 
gold chain concealed in the turban there is much to say, and 
even more of the great pearl hidden in the armpit, where- 
fore, O doctor lady, be wary lest there be any that can 
hear us.” 

Georgia rose obediently, and looked outside the windows, 
under the bed, and into the wardrobe. Having made it 
clear that there were no eavesdroppers about, she returned 
to her visitor. 

“ First, then, O doctor lady, thy servant wiU reveal the 
chain of gold. My mistress’s son has looked upon the face 
of the Miss Sahib, thy lord’s sister, and his heart is hot with 
love of her. He has said to his mother, ‘ Get her for me to 
wife, for I cannot sleep by night nor eat by day for think- 
ing of her.’ ” 

“I am astonished that the Hasrat Ali Begum should 
venture to send such a message to me,” said Georgia coldly, 
rising as she spoke, but the old woman caught at her dress. 

“Nay, hear me out, O doctor lady. My mistress strove 
her utmost to dissuade her son, for truly it is not well for 
East to mate with West, nor Moslem with Christian, neither 
is it pleasant for her to think of a daughter-in-law who will 
desire to change everything in the zenana, and rule the 
whole house, because she is English. It is out of love for 
thee, O doctor lady, and for thy lord, who is just and fears 
no man, that my mistress speaks. For these were the words 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 


67 


of Syad Bahrain Khan, my mistress’s son : ‘ Tell Nath Sahib 
that if he will give me his sister, I desire no dowry with 
her, but only his friendship. Let him speak with my uncle 
to acknowledge me as his heir, and grant me the honours 
and dignities which by right belong to the Amir that is to 
be, and I will live in peace with them both, and strengthen 
them against all their enemies. Fath-ud-Din’s daughter 
shall go back to her father’s house, so that all men may see 
that I look no longer to Ethiopia for support, and that 
Nath Sahib’s sister shall have no rival in the zenana. And 
moreover, have I not found favour in the sight of Barkaraf 
Sahib, whose eye is evil against Nath Sahib? If Nath 
Sahib wiU make friends with me, I will speak for him to 
the Kumpsioner Sahib, so that he shall look favourably 
upon him also, and the border will be at peace, and Nath 
Sahib’s praise in all men’s mouths.’ ” 

“Surely you must see for yourself that the idea is 
absurd ? ” said Georgia, trying to speak gently. “ I can’t 
be too thankful that Bahram Khan did not send a message 
direct to my husband. His wrath would have been ” 

“ That was Jehanara’s advice, O doctor lady. She bade 
his Highness gather his followers and ride boldly with them 
to demand the Miss Sahib from thy lord. But my mistress, 
knowing that Nath Sahib’s hand is always ready, feared for 
her son, and spoke prudently to him : ‘Nay, my son, do 
not so, or Nath Sahib will think thee ignorant of the 
customs of thine own people, and intending an insult to his 
house. Bather let thy mother speak for thee, that all things 
may be done according to custom, and the maiden’s relations 
not angered.’ ” 

“ And what about my poor little Zeynab ? ” asked Georgia. 
“ What does she think of all these negotiations ? ” 

“ She is a fool,” returned the old woman shortly. “When 
the Miss Sahib came into the zenana the other day, she was 
angry and reviled her, and the Miss Sahib was angry also, 
and bade Jehanara tell her that she would not so much as 
touch her lord with the staff of a lance. Now at this the 
foolish girl was comforted, but her jealousy was only laid 
to rest for a moment, and because her lord would not suffer 
her to come near him, and drove her away with bitter 
mockings, she taunted him in her rage with the Miss 
Sahib’s words, so that he fell into a terrible fury, and beat 


68 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


her, and tore off her jewels, hoping that she would return 
of her own will to her father’s house.” 

“ Brute ! ” murmured Georgia, with white lips. “ But 
why didn’t he divorce the poor child?” 

“He would have done so, O doctor lady, had not 
Jehanara reminded him that if Nath Sahib rejected his 
proffer of friendship, it would not be prudent for him to 
make himself enemies in Ethiopia. She desires to see thy 
lord humbled, O doctor lady, and she knows that the 
Vizier Fath-ud-Din hates him also. But the Lady Zeynab 
offered no resistance to her lord’s treatment of her, dreading 
only lest he should send her from him.” 

“ Upon my word ! ” cried Georgia. “ I wish Bahram 
Khan had made his request to my husband in person. He 
would have deserved whatever he got.” 

The visitor sighed patiently. “Strange are thy ways, 
O doctor lady, after the manner of thy people ! Why 
should it trouble thee that an Ethiopian woman is beaten 
by her husband, when thine own lord’s fate is trembling in 
the balance? Think rather of him and of thyself than of 
this foolish girl. And now to come to the great pearl, even 
my message of messages, which is from the mouth of my 
mistress’s brother, the Amir Ashraf Ali Khan. It is known 
to no one but his Highness’s self and the wise and learned 
mullah Aziz-ud-Din, whom he sent on an errand to my 
mistress’s son, but with this secret message for my mis- 
tress’s own ear. These are the words of the Amir Sahib: 
‘ Say to my friend Nath Sahib, What is to be the end of 
these things ? Since thy first coming hither I have obeyed 
thy voice, as I did that of thy father-in-law, Sinjaj Kilin 
Sahib, and all has gone well with me. I saw at my side 
my nephew Bahadar Shah, who was to me as a son, my 
Sardars brought their tribute at the due seasons, and the 
Ethiopians durst not cross my borders, while thy wisdom 
and justice settled all boundary disputes to the admiration 
of my wisest men. Now all this is changed. Bahadar 
Shah is gone from me, and Barkaraf Sahib orders me to 
receive in his stead the unnatural wretch who sought to 
slay me, his benefactor. Even now he rebukes me with 
great words because I would not suffer the mockery of his 
presence at the grave of him he slew. Speak then, O my 
friend, and let me know thy mind. Who is Barkaraf Sahib 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE, 


69 


that he should thrust himself into the affairs of this border 
of mine and thine ? He cannot speak our tongue nor judge 
according to our customs, and he never beheld the face of 
Sinjaj Kllin Sahib Bahadar. Can it be that his presump- 
tion and the evil of his doings are known to the Sarkar? 
Wilt thou obtain leave for me to make a journey to the 
Court of the great Lord Sahib, or of the Empress herself, 
that there I may lay the truth before them! Or if the 
Kumpsioner Sahib stands in the way of this, then let me 
present a petition truthfully drawn up/ ” 

The ambassadress paused, but Georgia shook her head. 
“No, it would be no use,” she said. “The Kumpsioner 
Sahib has the ear of the Sarkar, and he is given a free hand 
here.” 

“ Is it so, O doctor lady ? Then listen to the remaining 
words of Ashraf Ali Khan: ‘Let Nath Sahib but say the 
word, and this border shall be no place for the Kumpsioner 
Sahib. Already my Sardars are murmuring against his 
doings, and the tribesmen’s faces are black towards him 
because of his treatment of their friend. At a signal from 
me they will rise all along the border, and force the Kump- 
sioner Sahib to flee for his life, so that the Empress shall 
say, “ Verily Barkaraf Sahib is no fit ruler for the men of 
Khemistan.” But when he is gone, Nath Sahib shall quell 
the rising without drawing a single sword, so that the 
Empress will send him a robe of honour and a state elephant, 
and name him ruler of Khemistan and the border for ever. 
Send back but one word through the mullah Aziz-ud-Din, 
whom I have despatched to quiet the complaints of my 
nephew with empty words and grud^ng gifts, in obedience 
to the Kumpsioner Sahib, and the thing is done.’ ” 

“ Oh no, no ! ” cried Georgia, “ that must never be. A 
rising now would only work the ruin of my husband, and 
the Kumpsioner Sahib would be stronger than ever before. 
More than this, O Eye-of-the-Begrim, such are not the ways 
of the English. Because the Kumpsioner Sahib is set over 
my husband, he is to be obeyed, and to conspire against 
him or plot for his disgrace would be in our eyes a deadly 
wrong. The matter is ended.” 

“So be it, O doctor lady. The hands of Ashraf Ali 
Khan are clean, and he has done what he could for his 
friend and for himself, but it was written that matters are 


70 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


not to be set right thus. And one word more ; see that 
thy lord seek a husband quickly for the Miss Sahib. Why 
does he not give her to the Dipty Sahib ? ” This was Fitz 
Anstruther, in his capacity of Dick’s assistant or deputy. 
“He is young and well spoken, and such a man as women 
love.” 

“ I should like nothing better,” said Georgia, with a sigh, 
“ but I rather think the Miss Sahib will choose a husband 
for herself. And hark ! I hear the Major Sahib returning. 
You will rest this night in the guest-house in the compound 
with your attendants ? ” 

“Even so, O doctor lady, and in the morning I will 
return to Dera Gul with the medicine for my mistress, and 
with such words as the wisdom of the night may dispose 
thee and thy lord to send in answer to the Amir Sahib’s 
message.” 

Georgia shook her head again sadly as she delivered the 
old woman into Rahah’s charge, and having seen her safely 
out of the way, went to find Dick. He had just thrown off 
his heavy boots, and was lounging luxuriously in a long 
chair in his den. 

“That you at last, Georgie? Come in, old girl. How 
has the world gone with you all day ? I’m just comfortably 
tired, and at peace with all mankind. What’s up ? Some 
obstinate patient who will die, eh ? ” 

“No, nothing of that kind. I have been interviewing a 
messenger from Dera Gul.” 

“ Not that awful East Indian woman, I hope 1 ” Dick 
raised himself suddenly. 

“ No ; the Eye-of-the-Begum, with a very secret message 
from the Amir. He wants you to join with him to get rid 
of the Commissioner.” 

“ He does, does he I thought Burgrave’s last repri- 
mand would wake him up a bit. He made it pretty clear 
that Bahram Khan was to be recognised as heir, and ad- 
mitted to all the privileges of the post. It’s funny, isn’t it, 
that our respected superior doesn’t seem to see what a 
creepy sort of thing it is to welcome into your bosom a 
snake that’s tried to bite you already ? Oh, Georgie, it is 
calculated to make a man swear when he sees a fellow like 
Burgrave, who has far less knowledge of district work than 
young Anstruther, and that so long ago that he’s forgotten 


LA BELLE ALLIANCE. 


71 


all about it, sent to upset a province where he doesn’t even 
know the languages, simply because he can write nice 
reports and is a favourite at Simla. I can’t make pretty 
speeches to exalted personages, but I can keep this frontier 
quiet, and they won’t let me do it.” 

“I know; it’s perfectly shameful. But, Dick, I have 
something else to tell you that will make you laugh, though 
you won’t like it. Bahram Khan is anxious to marry 
Mab.” 

Dick bounced out of his chair. “ The dirty hound ! It’s 
like his impudence to dare to dream of such a thing. He 
had better look out for the next time he comes across me. 
Why hadn’t he the pluck to bring his precious message 
himself ? ” 

“I think his mother fancied he would be safer at a 
distance. He is good enough to offer his friendship as a 
bait.” 

“ Thanks, I’d rather be without it. The whole thing is 
a plot, Georgie — a palpable plot to try and get me into 
trouble with Burgrave. There was no hint of tMs atrocious 
idea when Mab was at Dera Gul the other day, or we 
should have heard of it.” Georgia felt uncomfortable, but 
her promise to Mabel kept her silent. “It’s a clumsy 
trick devised on the spur of the moment. If I pretended 
to nibble at it, the next thing would be that Burgrave 
would be informed I was intriguing against him, and had 
offered my sister to Bahram Khan to attract him to my 
side. We are on the down-grade, Georgie. I didn’t 
know they had got so far as inventing false accusations 
against me yet. Bah ! it makes a man sick of the whole 
thing.” 

“ I fancy Bahram Khan has had the idea in his mind 
longer than you imagine,” Georgia ventured to say. 

“ Oh, you’re a match-maker, as I’ve told you before. 
Please keep your planning to pleasanter subjects in future. 
But I say, it’s rather fine that the Commissioner should 
have Bahram Khan for a rival ! I should really like to 
tell him so.” 

“ Then you still think Mr Burgrave is in love with 
Mab?” 

“ If he isn’t, why does he stick on here so long without 
bringing off his great splash? He says it’s because of 


72 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


the Christmas holidays, but a trifle like that wouldn’t keep 
him quiet generally. My idea is that he means to make 
sure of her before breaking with me.” 

“But she would have nothing to do with him in any 
case if he broke with you.” 

“You think so? Well, we shall see.” 


CHAPTER m 


NONE BUT THE BRAVE. 

“Really, Mab,” said Dick irritably, “your horses are 
more bother than they are worth. Why don't you set 
up a motor-car ? ” 

“ How horrid you are, Dick ! Any one would think it 
was my fault that all these things happen. How could 
I help one of the other horses’ kicking Majnun as they 
were coming back from watering ? I am sure it was that 
wretched Bayard of yours — cross old thing ! At any rate, 
the syce declares it’s impossible for Majnun to go out to-day, 
and I can see -it myself. You can go round and look at the 
state his leg is in.” 

“ Oh, all right ; I’ll take your word for it. But what are 
you going to do ? ” 

“ The syce’s sole idea is to send down to Mr Anstruther’s 
for Laili, but I don’t care to ride her again just yet.” 

“No, I certainly won’t have you mount her until 
Anstruther can give a better report of her proceedings. 
WeU, you had better take Georgie’s old Simorgh, as she 
and I are to do Darby and Joan in the dog-cart.” 

“ He’s so horribly and aggressively meek. I don’t want 
a horse whose sole title to distinction is that in prehistoric 
days he carried his mistress to Kubbet-ul-Haj and back 
without once running away. I am going to ride Roy, 
Dick.” 

“ My dear Mabel, pray have some regard for appearances. 
Will nothing but a mighty war-horse satisfy your aspiring 
mind ? ” 

“ That’s just it. He’s so big that it must feel like riding 
on an elephant. I should love to ride him, and you know 
it’s perfectly safe. A child could manage him — you said so 
yourself.” 

“No, really, Mab. An appreciative country doesn’t 
73 


74 THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 

provide me with chargers merely to furnish a mount for 
you.” 

“Then I shall borrow a horse from somebody. Mr 
Burgrave would lend me anything he possesses in the 
way of horseflesh — he said so,” declared Mabel vindic- 
tively. 

“I daresay, and rejoice when it came to grief, so that 
he might nobly refuse any compensation. Oh, take Roy, 
and Bayard tw, if you like, and make the whole show 
into a circus, but don’t put me under an obligation to 
Burgrave.” 

Mabel retired triumphant, as she had intended to do. 
It was the last day of the Christmas holidays, and the 
Alibad festivities were to close, as usual, with a picnic 
organised by Major and Mrs North. Georgia had been 
up long before dawn, superintending the packing of pro- 
visions in the carts, which must set out as soon as it 
was light, and she was now resting in her own room. 
Without troubling to ask herself why, Mabel felt relieved 
by her absence. She would not have cared to employ the 
argument with which she had vanquished Dick, had his 
wife been at hand, but she had no fear of his bearing malice 
or alluding to the matter afterwards. Perhaps he thought 
she was sufficiently punished already, for when she was 
perched upon the back of the great roan charger, she found 
that her victory was its own sole reward. Roy was almost 
as uncomfortable to ride as a camel, and to Mabel, accus- 
tomed to her docile ponies, he seemed to have no mouth 
at aU. She was thankful to receive a hint or two on 
managing him from his forgiving master, and thus fore- 
armed, she would not own herself defeated. Her mount 
excited a good deal of surprise among her fellow-guests, and 
Mr Hardy asked her benevolently if she would not have 
preferred an elephant, while Mr Burgrave reminded her 
in reproachful tones of his offer of the loan of any of his 
horses. To this she replied promptly that she preferred 
a military mount as more trustworthy, an answer which 
bred great, if somewhat causeless elation in the minds of 
several young officers who heard it. 

The scene of the picnic was a spur of the mountains 
about a dozen miles to the north-east, where there were 
curious caves to be seen, and also the ruins of an ancient 


NONE BUT THE BRAVE. 


75 


fortress, among which fragments, or even whole specimens, 
of old glazed tiles, very highly prized by those learned in 
such things, were sometimes found. On this occasion 
everything was done in the orthodox way. The caves were 
duly explored and the ruins examined, with suitable pre- 
cautions against finding scorpions instead of tiles, and a 
few rather disappointing sherds were discovered, and en- 
trusted to the servants to take home. Mabel and Flora 
Graham chose to climb to the highest point of the ruins, 
escorted and assisted by all the younger men of the party, 
but when there they confessed that, but for being able to 
say they had achieved the ascent, they had gained nothing 
that was not equally obtainable down below. However, 
the provisions were excellent, and nothing material to their 
consumption had been forgotten, so that the guests all 
agreed that it had been a most successful picnic, and 
Georgia heaved a sigh of satisfaction as she watched the 
servants piling the last of the empty baskets on the carts. 

These carts, with the three or four carriages which had 
conveyed the elder members of the party, were obliged to 
return home by the track across the plain, but it was 
possible for the riders to take a short cut through the hills 
for the first part of the way. While a discussion was going 
on as to the path to be chosen. Flora Graham moved close 
to Mabel. 

“Oh, Mab,” she murmured hastily, “do you think you 
could get Mr Brendon to ride with you*? He persists in 
sticking to me, and I know Fred won’t like it when he 
hears. He’s a little inclined to be jealous, you know, be- 
cause once, before we were engaged, he thought I liked Mr 
Brendon. Besides, I want to ride with Mr Milton, and 
talk to him about Fred.” 

Milton, the youth who was Fred Haycraft’s comrade at 
Fort Shah Nawaz, had cheerfully put up with the fag-end 
of the holidays that his senior might enjoy as much of Miss 
Graham’s society as possible. He was delighted with the 
proposed arrangement, and Mabel had little difficulty in 
attaching Mr Brendon to herself when he found that the 
post he coveted was already bespoken. It was obvious, 
however, to keen-eyed observers that Mr Burgrave and Fitz 
Anstruther had both been promising themselves the pleasure 
of riding with Mabel, and the sudden blankness of their 


76 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


faces when they found themselves forestalled by this out- 
sider was much appreciated. Finally, either moved by a 
certain vague fellow-feeling, or each impelled by the de- 
termination to see that the other played fair, they fell in 
together behind Mabel and her cavalier, riding rather in 
advance of the rest. 

As for Mabel, she felt it distinctly hard to be obliged to 
sacrifice herself in this way for Flora’s benefit. Mr Brendon, 
of the Public Works Department, was a most estimable 
young man, but he suffered from a plethora of useful know- 
ledge. To ask him a question was like pulling the string 
of a shower-bath, which let loose a flood of information on 
the head of the unwary questioner. Mabel had intended to 
let him prose as he liked, while she thought about other 
things, and jerked the string, so to speak, at the requisite 
intervals, but he was far too polite to monopolise the con- 
versation. He paused for her replies or invited her opinion 
so often, while clearly ready to supply the needed answer 
himself, that she had not a moment for meditation, and 
found the ride almost unendurable. She had just succeeded 
in hiding an irrepressible yawn when a happy idea came to 
her as she was approaching a state of desperation. 

“ Oh, here is quite a nice level piece of ground ! Let us 
race, Mr Brendon.” 

He could not well refuse, and for all too short a time Roy 
pounded gallantly through the sand. Brendon’s lighter 
steed won easily, and when Mabel reached the end of the 
course, she found him waiting for her. At this point their 
road entered a narrow ravine, leading down to the open 
desert, and the high rocks on either side looked black 
and threatening against the glowing sunset sky, a glimpse 
of which at the farther end of the gorge dazzled the eyes. 

“I think you had better let me pilot you here. Miss 
North,” said Brendon. “ The ground is strewn with loose 
boulders, and it is difficult to distinguish them in this light. 
You might get a nasty fall.” 

It was desirable that Brendon should ride anywhere 
rather than beside her, and Mabel accepted the position he 
assigned to her with something more than resignation. He 
took the lead as they entered the ravine, his pony picking 
its way with infinite caution, and Roy followed securely 
enough. 


NONE BUT THE BRAVE. 


77 


“What a delightful Diirer engraving we should make!” 
exclaimed Mabel suddenly, “creeping along between these 
dark cliffs under such a gorgeous red sky. But it’s contrary 
to all symbolism that you should be riding first.” 

“ The colour of the sky would scarcely tell in an engrav- 
ing,” answered Brendon, -with a perceptible accent of reproof. 
“ But the idea would work out well in black and white.” 

“ Oh dear, no ! ” persisted Mabel. “ The sky is every- 
thing. It gives such a threatening touch. I feel quite 
weird myself, don’t ” 

“ Don’t you ? ” she was going to say, but the words were 
cut short, for a shot was fired among the rocks on the left, 
close beside her. Eoy, accustomed to such sounds, merely 
started slightly and pricked up his ears, but the pony 
shied violently, and received a cut from its rider. 

“Abominable carelessness!” shouted Brendon to Mabel, 
looking round as the animal dashed forward. “ I’m coming 
back to hunt that fellow out. He might have shot one 
of us.” 

The words were scarcely out of his mouth before the pony 
reared suddenly and then fell forward, throwing him over 
its head. At the same moment Mabel heard the sound of 
another horse’s feet behind her, and before she could look 
round some one dealt Roy a smart blow on the fiank. She 
felt him rise for a leap, and was conscious that his heels 
touched something as he went over. It seemed a miracle 
that he did not land upon his head, but as it was, the 
shock, when his hoofs clattered down amongst the stones, 
nearly unseated Mabel, and before she coidd collect her 
scattered senses three mounted men appeared, as if by 
magic, from among the rocks on either hand. Before she 
had time to do more than realise that they wore turbans, a 
fourth man pushed up from behind, and seizing her bridle, 
forced Roy into a canter. She had a momentary vision of 
Brendon, his face streaming Tvith blood, fiinging himself 
between her horse and her captor’s, and trying to wrest the 
bridle from him ; she saw the sweep of steel in the red 
light as one of the other men turned round ; saw Brendon 
cut down by a murderous blow from a tulwar. It was all 
over in a moment, and before she could even scream, she 
and her captors were out of the gorge and riding swiftly to 
the right, away from Alibad and safety. From the fatal 


78 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


spot they had left there came faintly to her ears the sound 
of several shots. 

The sound reached other ears as well as Mabel’s. Mi 
Burgrave and Fitz, riding leisurely, as they had been when 
Mabel and her cavalier left them behind in their race, started 
when they heard it, and put spurs to their horses. Enter- 
ing the gorge they could see nothing but dark rocks and 
lurid sky. No ! what was that ? — a. bright flash, followed 
by another report, coming from a spot close to the ground 
at the farther end. Riding headlong down the ravine, 
regardless of the shifting boulders, they distinguished at 
last the form of Brendon, his light clothes dyed with blood. 
He was dragging himself painfully towards them, holding 
his discharged revolver in his left hand. 

“ They’ve got Miss North ! ” he gasped, as they neared 
him. 

With a sharp exclamation Mr Burgrave dug his spurs 
deeper and dashed on, but Fitz, catching the look of agony 
on Brendon’s face, drew rein for a moment. 

“ She’s riding — a troop-horse. Yell to him — to ‘ Halt ! 
came in broken sentences. “And look out. There’s a — 
rope.” 

Even as he sank down exhausted from loss of blood, 
there was a crash in front. The Commissioner and his 
horse had gone down in a heap, marking only too accurately 
the position of the rope. Fitz galloped forward, his pony 
taking the obstacle like a bird. 

“ Ride on, for Heaven’s sake ! Never mind me ! ” came 
in a despairing shout from the man who lay helpless under 
the struggling horse, and Fitz obeyed. He was out of the 
gorge now, and could see far away to the right the dark 
moving mass which represented the object of his pursuit. 
Ramming in his spurs, he followed at breakneck speed, his 
whole soul absorbed in the savage determination to catch 
up the robbers and their prey. Whether he and Sheikh 
lived or died, they must reach that goal. Thundering on, 
his eyes fixed upon his quarry, he perceived presently, with 
a fierce joy, that it was becoming clearer to his view. He 
was gaining ! Now he could distinguish the forms of the 
men and their horses, and presently he was able to assure 
himself that the wiry little native steeds were undoubtedly 
handicapped by the necessity of accommodating their pace 



“ FITZ CAU(;HT thk look of agoxv in HKKNDON s fack 





NONE BUT THE BRAVE. 


79 


to that of the heavier Roy. That the robbers he was pur- 
suing were four to one did not occur to Fitz, even in face of 
the ominous fact that they made no attempt to interfere 
with him, too confident in their superior numbers to take 
the trouble to separate and cut him off. The moment that 
he felt sure of his advantage, his plan was ready, formed 
complete in his mind, and without any volition of his own, 
his revolver was in his hand, cocked, the moment after. 
As he diminished the distance between himself and the 
robbers, he saw that they were no longer in a compact body. 
The three unencumbered riders were leading, and Mabel 
and the man who held her bridle came after. Mabel had 
recovered her presence of mind by this time. She was 
striking furiously with her whip at the hand which gripped 
her rein, in the hope of forcing the robber to loose his hold, 
but in vain. He could not spare a hand to snatch away 
the whip, but his grasp upon the bridle never relaxed. 
Suddenly a voice sounded in her ears. Standing in his 
stirrups, Fitz put all the power of his lungs into the one 
word, “ Halt ! ” and at the well-known shout Roy stopped 
dead, his feet firmly planted together. The shock dragged 
the robber from his saddle, and his own horse, terrified, 
continued its headlong career. Still grasping Mabel’s 
bridle with his left hand, he drew his tulwar and sprang at 
Fitz. A bullet from the ready revolver met him as he 
came, and he fell forward, the tulwar dropping harmless 
from his fingers, which gripped for a moment convulsively 
at the sand under Sheikh’s hoofs. 

“ Quick ! Get behind me ! Crouch between the horses ! ” 
cried Fitz to Mabel, urging the panting Sheikh in front of 
Roy. The three men in front had faced round, and seemed 
to be meditating a charge, but they were without firearms, 
and Fitz, standing behind his pony, had them covered if 
they should approach. Left to themselves, they might 
have distracted his attention by coming at him from 
different directions, and taken him in the rear, but the 
other members of the party had now emerged from the 
gorge, and were riding down on them with shouts. Prudent 
counsels prevailed, and they turned their horses’ heads 
again, and rode off into the gathering darkness, leaving the 
victorious Fitz with two trembling, sweating horses, and 
Mabel, crouched on the sand, clutching wildly at his feet. 


80 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


She tried to speak as she looked up at him, but no words 
would come, and only a hoarse scream issued from her lips. 
The sight of her utter prostration almost unmanned him. 

“ Don’t, don’t. Miss North ! ” he entreated, trying to lift 
her up. “You’re safe now, and the others will be here in 
a minute. Don’t let them see you like this.” 

She swayed to and fro as he raised her, and staggering 
to Roy’s side buried her face in his mane. Fitz turned 
away. It would be taking an unfair advantage, he felt, to 
speak to her in this forlorn state, and he began to pat 
Sheikh, and praise his gallant efforts in a low tone. Many 
a time afterwards did he curse himself as a fool for this 
backwardness of his, but at the moment it was impossible 
to him to take her in his arms and comfort her, as his heart 
urged him to do. She had been saved from death or worse 
by his means, and he could not presume upon the service 
he had rendered her. 

The moment’s constraint was quickly ended by the eager 
questions of the men who came galloping up. Fitz stepped 
forward to meet them. 

“ Look out ! ” he said hastily, jerking his head in Mabel’s 
direction, “ Miss North is awfully knocked up. Leave her 
to herseK for a moment. Is Tighe here ? ” 

“He stopped at the nullah. It’s a bad job there. 
Brendon’s gone, poor old chap ! and the Commissioner’s 
pretty extensively damaged. Jolly good job the doctor 
was able to ride out this afternoon.” 

“I say, look here,” said Fitz, “we mustn’t let her know 
about this. Can’t we get her straight home 1 ” 

“ Must go back to the nullah. The Colonel and one or 
two more whose horses were no good stayed with Tighe to 
help him dig out the Commissioner. He had managed to 
shoot his horse, lest it should kick his brains out, but it 
was lying right across him. They’ll want help in getting 
him home, and poor Brendon too.” 

“ Well, say nothing to Miss North, and we’ll try to keep 
it dark. There, she’s coming. Can’t you say something 
ordinary ? ” 

Milton, to whom the request — or rather command — was 
addressed, gasped helplessly. The circumstances seemed 
to preclude him from saying anything at all, but as 
Mabel came towards them, her face still white and her 


NONE BUT THE BRAVE. 81 

lips trembling, a happy thought seized two of the other 
men simultaneously. 

“ We’ve never even looked at the rascal you potted ! ” they 
cried to Fitz. “ Here, come along. Who’s got a match ? ” 

Mabel shuddered, and caught at Fitz’s arm, but a dread- 
ful fascination seemed to draw her to the place where the 
dead robber lay. Some one produced a box of matches, 
and kneeling down, struck a light close to the face of the 
corpse. Fitz knew as well as Mabel what face she ex- 
pected to see, and he could hardly keep himself from echo- 
ing her cry of surprise and relief when they realised that 
a stranger lay before them. 

“Wait a minute, though,” said one of the ofiBcers, press- 
ing forward. “Lend us another match, old man. Yes, 
I thought so ! It’s Mumtaz Mohammed, the sowar who 
deserted five or six weeks ago. See, he has his carbine on 
his back.” 

“ Then it was only a common or garden raid, and not a 
planned thing,” said another. “I know it was said he had 
got away to those fellows who broke out of prison at 
Kharrakpur.” 

“No,” said Mabel suddenly; “it was a plot.” 

“Why, Miss North — how do you know?” they asked, 
astonished. 

“Because my syce was in it. He told me this morning 
my pony could not be ridden, and wanted me to send for 
Lain, whom Mr Anstruther is training for me. She bolts 
at the sound of a shot. It was a shot fired in the nullah 
that began this — this ” 

“ And you didn’t ride Laili after all 1 ” 

“No, I would ride Koy. I asked for him just to see 
what Dick would say, and when he didn’t want me to have 
him, I persisted, simply to tease him. And it has saved 
my life ! ” she cried hysterically. 

“Not much doubt who stood to. benefit by the plot!” 
muttered one of the men who had stood behind Mabel at 
the Gymkhana, but Fitz nudged the speaker fiercely. 

“ I don’t know what we’re all standing here for — ^in case 
our deceased friend’s sorrowing relations like to come back 
and wipe us out, I suppose. Let me mount you. Miss 
North. Are you fellows going to stop out all night? Had 
we better bring that along, do you think?” 


82 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


This was added in a lower tone, as he pointed to the 
robber’s corpse. After some demur it was decided to lay it 
across the saddle of Brendon’s pony, which had found its 
way back to the rest with a pair of broken knees, and they 
rode back towards the gorge, the last man leading the laden 
pony, so that it might be kept out of Mabel’s sight. As 
they approached the entrance to the ravine Dr Tighe came 
forward hastily to meet them. 

“ Look here,” he said, “ I want some one to ride on to 
Alibad at once. The Commissioner has broken his knee-cap 
and a few other things, and Major North’s is the nearest 
house, but Mrs North mustn’t be frightened. Milton, your 
pony’s a good one, I know, so just take it out of him. Say 
nothing about Miss North or Brendon or anything, but tell 
Mrs North the Commissioner has had a nasty fall, and I am 
bringing him to her house with a fractured patella and a 
pair of smashed ribs. She can get things ready, and send 
on to my house for anything she doesn’t happen to have.” 

“ Surely the ladies had better go back with me. Doctor ? ” 
asked Milton, pausing as he was about to start. 

“ No, we don’t want any more kidnapping to-night. We 
must travel slowly, all of us, but they’ll be safer than with 
you. Feel shaky. Miss North! Drink this,” and he 
handed her a flask-cup. “ Miss Graham is waiting to weep 
tears of joy over you. What, aren’t you gone yet, Milton!’* 

“Tell Major North to arrest the syce,” Fitz shouted after 
the messenger as he disappeared in the darkness. 

“Off with your coats, you young fellows!” cried Dr 
Tighe, as the thud of the pony’s steps upon the sand died 
away. “The Commissioner has to be carried home some- 
how, and there’s not so much as a stick to make a stretcher 
of. We must tie the coats together by the sleeves, and 
manufacture a litter in that way.” 

No one dared to scoff, although no one could understand 
what the doctor meant to do; but working energetically 
under his directions, they succeeded in framing a sufficiently 
practicable litter. Six of the party were chosen as bearers, 
and the others were to relieve them, their duty in the mean- 
time being to lead the riderless horses and keep watch 
against a surprise. Mabel and Flora, who had been en- 
jo;^ng the luxury of shedding a few tears together in 
private, were placed at the head of the procession, and the 


NONE BUT THE BKAVB. 


83 


march began. At first the litter containing the wounded 
man followed close after the two girls ; but presently Fitz, 
who was one of the bearers, felt his arm grasped. 

“Let the ladies get ahead of us, please. I — I can’t 

stand this very well.” 

Fitz understood. Mr Burgrave was suffering acutely in 
being carried over the rough ground, and he feared lest 
some sound extorted from him by the pain should acquaint 
Mabel with the fact. The litter and its bearers dropped 
behind, and if now and then a groan was forced from the 
Commissioner’s lips, his rival, at any rate, felt no contempt 
for the involuntary weakness. Before half of the journey 
had been accomplished, a relief party, headed by Dick, met 
them, and Mr Burgrave was transferred to a charpoy 
carried by natives, after Dr Tighe had made rough and 
ready use of the splints and strapping Georgia had sent. 
A little later a detachment of the ^^emistan Horse passed 
at a smart trot in the direction of the gorge. It was not 
now the rule, as in the early days of General Keeling’s 
reign, for the regiment to sleep in its boots, but it was stiU 
supposed to be ready day and night to trace the perpetrators 
of any outrage and bring them to justice — rough justice, 
sometimes, but none the less impressive for that. The sight 
gave Mabel a sense of safety and comfort, and she scouted 
Flora’s proposal that she should come home with her for 
the night. 

“ As if I would leave Georgie alone, with all this extra 
work on her hands!” she said, as they turned in at the 
gate. 

“Oh, Mab, is it true about the Commissioner 1 ” cried 
Georgia, coming out to meet them on the verandah. 

“ Yes j I am afraid he’s dreadfully hurt, poor man I ” 

“ Was he riding with you when he fell 1 ” 

“ He — he was riding after me,” said Mabel cautiously. 

Georgia threw up her hands. “ Oh, if you could only 
have hurt any other man, or taken him to any house but 
this ! ” she cried ; and Mabel thought it both unkind and 
unfair, considering the circumstances. 


CHAPTER Vm. 


WITNESS FOB THE PEOSECUTION. 

Hark ! what was that 1 Mabel sprang up in bed, her heart 
beating furiously, her hands clammy with fear. There was 
the sound of horses’ feet, the rattling of bridles, on every 
side. A wild impulse seized her to creep under the dressing- 
table — to hide herself anjTvhere, but a moment later she 
laughed aloud. The very last thing before going to bed, 
Dick had told her for her comfort that not only would the 
usual Sikh sentry keep guard over the Commissioner’s 
slumbers, but the compound would be patrolled all night 
by the Khemistan Horse. She crept to the window and 
peered out between the slats of the Venetians. Yes ; there 
they were — splendid men with huge turbans, and accoutre- 
ments glittering in the moonlight — pacing slowly to and fro 
upon their stout little horses. But how was it that there 
were two of them at that far corner of the compound, where 
she could scarcely distinguish their figures, and why had 
they paused as though to listen for something? Mabel 
listened too, and presently, above the nearer noises of 
trampling hoofs and jingling bits, she heard the approach 
of a galloping horse. Was it a scout coming in to give 
warning of a threatened attack ? But no ; the two men at 
the corner sat motionless on their horses, and as the sound 
came nearer and nearer she saw the fiash of their tulwars. 
They were saluting — whom or what ? Mabel strained her 
eyes to see, but could distinguish nothing. Then she 
remembered. It was General Keeling to whom they were 
doing honour, as he rode his periodical rounds, watchful for 
the safety of his old province. A cold sweat broke out all 
over her, and- in a panic of which she was heartily ashamed 
even at the moment, she scurried back to bed and gave 
herself up to more and more violent paroxysms of horror. 
Of what use were sentinels against such a visitant as this 1 

84 


WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. 


85 


Suppose it was his will to come closer, to come up to the 
house, to enter 1 What could be more likely ? She lifted 
her head for a moment and listened again. Surely that 
was a horse’s tread upon the drive, approaching the door 1 
In reality, the intruder was only one of the patrols, but in 
the state of ungovernable terror in which Mabel was plunged 
this did not occur to her, and she buried her head under the 
bed-clothes and screamed. 

The ayah, roused from her heavy slumbers by her 
mistress’s shrieks, came shivering to her side and tried to 
quiet her, but finding her entreaties of no avail, ran for 
help. Presently Georgia glided in, looking like a reproach- 
ful ghost herself, in a white dressing-gown, and profi'ered 
Mabel three tabloids and a glass of water, as sternly as 
if she had been Queen Eleanor handing Eosamund the 
poison. 

“I’ll sit by you till you are asleep, she whispered ; “but 
you mustn’t make such a noise. You’ll wake the Com- 
missioner, and he has only just dropped off to sleep, poor 
man ! ” 

“ I know I’m a fearful baby,” confessed Mabel, restored 
to calmness by the eminently practical nature of Georgia’s 
benevolence, “ but I was so horribly frightened. Is poor 
Mr Burgrave very bad 'i ” 

“It was a nasty accident,” replied Georgia, with pro- 
fessional caution. 

“ What have you done to him 1 ” 

“ Strapped up the broken ribs, and applied ice to the leg 
and slung it up.” 

“ Ugh, cruel creature ! ice this cold night I suppose 
it’s because you hate him so much 1 ” 

“ Hate him ? What nonsense ! How could we hate a 
man who has got hurt in trying to save you? He’s so 
brave about it, too.” 

“ And he didn’t mind having you for a doctor ? ” 

“ Of course I was only helping Dr Tighe. But even if 
Mr Burgrave disliked my being there, he wouldn’t show it. 
When Dr Tighe told him he had better stay in this house 
until the splint is taken off, and not run the risk of jarring 
the limb, he looked at me, and said, ‘ If my presence is not 
too troublesome to my kind surgeon here.’ ” 

“ And smiled at you like a father. 1 know,” said Mabel, 


86 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


with sleepy sarcasm. “ Georgie,” she roused herself 
suddenly, “ I want to know — how is ” 

“Now, I will not answer another question to-night,” 
said Georgia resolutely. “ I am going to read to you till 
you fall asleep.” 

When Mabel awoke in the morning she felt oppressed by 
an intolerable burden. Body and mind seemed to be alike 
tired out, and it was an effort even to open her eyes. 
Georgia and Dr Tighe were in the room looking at her, 
and the sight of them reminded her that there was some 
question she wanted to ask, but she could not remember 
what it was. 

“Well, Miss North,” said Dr Tighe, “nerves a bit 
jumpy this morning, eh ? We’ll allow you a day in bed to 
settle them a little, but after that you must get up and help 
Mrs North to look after her patient.” 

“ Oh, I’ll get up to-day,” said Mabel faintly. 

“ No, no ; don’t be in too great a hurry. Your brother 
wiU come in to ask you a question or two in a few minutes, 
and afterwards you shall try what a little more sleep and a 
little more slumber will do for you. It’s quite evident that 
nature never meant you for a frontierswoman.” 

“ Oh, Doctor,” expostulated Georgia, “ think what she 
has gone through since she came here, and only out from 
home such a short time ! Besides, nothing so bad as this 
has ever happened in our neighbourhood before.” 

“ At any rate, it’s the sort of thing you want to take to 
young if you’re to shine in it,” said the doctor. “ Life in 
these parts is not exactly pretty, but it has its exciting 
moments. Nothing like what it had once, though. A 
predecessor of mine under General Keeling used to head 
cavalry charges and take forts in the intervals of his medical 
duties. I have no pleasant little recreations of that sort 
for my leisure hours. Now, Miss North, don’t let me see 
you dare to smile at the thought of my heading a cavalry 
charge. There was some object in training in those days, 
but naturally a man puts on weight when there’s nothing to 
do but potter about an hospital.” 

“You see you’re not the only person in the world who 
hankers after thrilling experiences, Mab,” said Georgia, as 
she left the room with the doctor, and the words recalled 


WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. 


87 


to Mabel their conversation of three weeks since. Stretch- 
ing out her hand, she took a mirror from the toilet-table 
and glanced at herself in it, only to drop the glass in 
horror. What a hollow-eyed wreck she looked ! Was it 
possible that one night could work such a change? She 
had had her wish and tried experiments in reality, and she 
recoiled from the result. 

“ On the whole, I think I prefer the pleasing fictions of 
ordinary English life,” she said to herself. 

“Good-morning, Mab,” said Dick’s voice, following a 
knock at the door. “I’m not going to disturb you long, 
but I want you to tell Tighe and me what you can re- 
member about last night’s business. It’s necessary for me 
to know, or I wouldn’t bother you.” 

With a shudder Mabel let her thoughts return to that 
homeward ride for a moment, then looked up suddenly. 
“ Oh, now I remember ! ” she said. “ My head is so stupid, 
I couldn’t think of it before. How is Mr Brendon ? ” 

Both men had expected her to ask after the Com- 
missioner, and Brendon’s name took them by surprise. 
“Brendon? Oh, he’s — he’s as well as he can be,” said 
Dr Tighe hastily, recovering himself first. 

“ But how can he possibly be well ? His arm must have 
been nearly cut off. He fell down under the horses’ feet. 
Oh, you don’t mean — he can’t be ? ” 

The silence was a sufficient answer, and she turned her 
face to the wall with a moan. Brendon dead — for whom 
her kindliest feeling the evening before had been a more 
or less good-natured contempt — and he had practically 
given his life for her ! 

“Look here, Mab,” said Dick earnestly; “it won’t do 
the poor fellow any good to cry about him just now. 
What we want is evidence to convict the villains who 
did it.” 

“ Have you caught them ? ” came in a muflled voice from 
the bed. 

“ I hope so. Winlock, who went out to track them last 
night, had his own ideas on the subject, and posted part of 
his detachment in hiding among the rocks round Dera 
Gul. A little before dawn three men rode up, coming 
from Nalapur way — not from our direction — but they and 
their horses were all dead-beat. Winlock arrested them, 


88 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


feeling pretty certain they were the men he wanted, and 
had made a long round to avert suspicion before going 
home. They were Bahram Khan’s servants, sure enough, 
but he said they had been to Nalapur for him, and he ofiered 
no objection to their being arrested. When you are better 
we must see if you can identify any of them, but now all 
I want is to know roughly what happened, on account of 
the — inquiry, which must take place to-day.” 

Thus stimulated, Mabel told her tale, helped out by 
questions from Dick, but breaking down more than once. 
He took down what she said, and the doctor signed it as a 
witness, and then they left her to Georgia’s ministrations. 
Georgia found her patient excited and tearful, and sent 
Rahah at once to the surgery to make up a composing 
draught. 

“ Now, Mab, lie down and try to be quiet,” she said. 

*‘No, I won’t lie down. I can’t sleep,” cried Mabel. 
“Isn’t it dreadful, my having to identify those men? I 
can’t bear to think of it. And it brings it aU back so 
vividly — the horrible helplessness — I could do nothing — 
nothing — to save myself. I think I should have gone mad 
in another moment if Mr Anstruther had not come up. And 
now to have to go and look at them in cold blood, and say 
that I recognise them ! Isn’t there any way out of it ? 
Oh, Georgie, can’t Dick make my syce turn Queen’s 
evidence ? ” 

“I’m afraid not,” said Georgia reluctantly. “The fact 

is, Mab, your syce didn’t wait to be caught. He went off 
while we were at the picnic.” 

“Oh, well,” said Mabel despairingly, “then I must do 

it, I suppose. It seems a kind of duty, as poor Mr 
Brendon was killed in trying to save me, to have the men 
who killed him punished. But it’s awful to think that 
three men will be hanged just because I saw their faces ! 
They will be hanged, won’t they ? ” 

“I don’t know, really. It is very dreadful, Mab, but 
there is one good thing about the whole affair. It may put 
things right on the frontier. Both Dick and I think 
Bahram Khan was so confident of Mr Burgrave’s support 
that he ventured on this outrage feeling sure that he would 
see him through. If these three men are proved to be his 
agents, it must open the Commissioner’s eyes. He’s an 


WITNESS FOE THE PROSECUTION. 


89 


Englishman and an honourable man, though dreadfully 
mistaken, and he can’t go on backing him up after that. 
In fact, I’m sure he wouldn’t want to.” 

“No, I don’t think he would. And I suppose there is no 
question about it really ? What do other people think ? ” 
“None of the men here have a doubt that it was Bahram 
Khan’s doing. As for the regiment, they are so indignant 
over the insult offered to Dick in attempting to carry off 
his sister, that they would like to raze Dera Gul to the 
ground forthwith.” 

“Oh, that’s the light in which they look at it? They 
don’t think of my feelings in the matter at all ? ” 

“ I’m afraid not. You and I are merely Dick’s chattels 
in their eyes, you see.” 

“ I may be, but you are not. My ayah Tara tells me all 
sorts of wonderful things about you, Georgie, which she 
picks up from the other servants. Do you know that when 
you kiss Dick before he starts in the morning, they think 
you are putting a spell upon him to keep him safe all day, 
and bring him back to you all right at night ? ” 

Georgia blushed like a girl. “That is really rather 
sweet,” she said. “Rahah despises the people round here 
too much to tell me anything they say about us.” 

“ Oh, Georgie,” cried Mabel, with sudden envy, “ I would 
give anything to care for any one as you do for Dick ! You 
look quite different when you talk about him. If only 
I wasn’t such a cold-hearted wretch ! I wish I had cared 
for poor Mr Brendon, even; that would be better than 
caring for no one but myself.” 

She broke into a storm of tearless sobs, and Georgia 
hailed the appearance of Rahah with the sleeping-draught, 
which she was obliged to administer almost by force. It 
was some time in taking effect, but at last the sobs died 
away, and she was able to leave the patient in charge of 
her own ayah, while she went about her other duties. Not 
until the morning of the next day did Mabel wake again, 
very much ashamed of her behaviour, which she was con- 
scious had not been exactly in accordance with the high 
aspirations she had formerly confided to Georgia. Resolved 
to redeem her character, she sprang out of bed at once, and 
when Georgia came into her room on tiptoe, expecting to 
find her asleep, she was already dressed. 


90 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Let me do something to help you,” she said eagerly. 
“ You must have had a fearful amount of extra work thrown 
on you yesterday. What can I do ” 

“ Well, if you are so benevolently inclined, you might sit 
with the Commissioner a little,” said Georgia. “He was 
asking for you all day, and rather suspected us of concealing 
something dreadful from him.” 

“Very well,” said Mabel readily. The proposal exactly 
fell in with her wishes, for she had conceived a magnificent 
idea while dressing. By her diplomacy she would induce 
the Commissioner to reverse his frontier policy. 

“ Miss North ! ” Mr Burgrave started up from his 
pillows as Mabel entered the sickroom, but becoming 
suddenly conscious of his injuries, he sank back again 
stiffly. “Excuse my left hand,” he added. “The other 
is off work just now. And how are you? Really not 
much the worse ? ” 

“I had no business to be any the worse,” returned 
Mabel. “Nothing happened to me, thanks to you and — 
the others.” 

“Ah, but the shock to the nerves must have been ex- 
ceedingly severe,” said Mr Burgrave soothingly. “As I 
remarked to Tighe yesterday, Mrs North would have got 
over anything of the kind in an hour or two, but you are 
much more highly strung.” 

Mabel was vaguely aware that the comparison was in- 
tended to be in her own favour, but she could not agree 
that the advantage was on her side, and she changed the 
subject hastily. “ I don’t know how to thank you for what 
you did. Every time I think of that evening I feel more 
and more how grateful I ought to be. And I am, indeed, 
but I can’t say what I should like.” 

Mr Burgrave raised his hand. “Please don’t. Miss 
North, or you will make me more miserable than I am 
already. How can I forget that I did nothing to help you ? 
Mr Anstruther had that happiness, while I was lying on the 
ground under my horse.” 

“But you tried — you did all you could — you are so 
terribly hurt ! ” protested Mabel. 

“Yes, and that is my only comfort. I was hurt, and 
therefore I am here. No, on second thoughts, I don’t even 
envy Anstruther. He did the work, but I have basely 


WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. 


91 


annexed the reward. To have rescued you was happiness 
enough for him. I, who was unsuccessful, am consoled by 
finding myself under the same roof with you for a fortnight. 
That is enough for me.” 

“ How nice of you to say so ! ” Mabel rose. “ Then 
I can leave you alone quite happily, and go and help 
Georgia ? ” 

“ Miss North, you are not going already ? What have I 
said to drive you out of the room ? Do you want me to 
pine away in melancholy solitude ? After all, I did try to 
rescue you, as you were kind enough to say just now ; but 
it will need your constant society and conversation to keep 
me from brooding over my failure.” 

“I’m afraid my society won’t be very cheerful,” said 
Mabel, resuming her seat with a sigh. “You see, I can’t 
help feeling that what happened was a good deal my fault. 
If I had only told what I knew ” 

“Well?” asked Mr Burgrave anxiously, as she paused. 

“Ah, but if I had, you would not have believed it,” was 
the unexpected response, “ any more than you would 
now.” 

“ Do you think I should be so rude as to question your 
word ? ” 

“You will when I tell you that I know the men who 
tried to carry me off were agents of Bahram Klian’s.” 

“ You have evidence to support this very serious charge, 
I presume ? Are you able to identify the men ? ” 

“ I suppose so ; I haven’t tried yet. But, Mr Burgrave, 
I’m going to tell you something that only my sister-in-law 
knows — not even my brother, for I wouldn’t let her say 
anything to him. Bahram Khan did want to — to marry 
me.” 

“What?” cried the Commissioner, starting up again. 
“You don’t mean to say that he has ever ventured to — to 
suggest such a thing to you ? ” Eage and disgust strove for 
the mastery in his voice. 

“ Oh no, he has never said anything to me ; but the day 
I was at Dera Gul the women talked of nothing else.” 

“ Oh, the women ! ” Mr Burgrave spoke quite calmly 
again, and with evident relief. “ You must remember that 
Bahram IGian is a good deal more advanced in his notions 
than the other Sardars of the province, and would like to 


92 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


imitate our ways with regard to ladies — English ladies, I 
mean. That is just the sort of thing that native women 
can’t understand. Any polite attention he might offer you 
would be misconstrued by them into a cause for violent 
jealousy. Their mistake made things extremely unpleasant 
for you at the moment, no doubt ; but you need not torment 
yourself with thinking that he had any such preposterous 
idea in his head.” 

Mr Burgrave did not actually say that a lady accustomed 
to universal admiration was liable to perceive it even where 
it did not exist, but this was what Mabel understood his 
slightly repressive tone to imply. Ignorant of the Eye-of- 
the-Begum’s secret mission to Georgia, she could not defend 
herself against the suggestion, and she grew crimson. 

“Why don’t you say that I imagined the whole thing?” 
she demanded. “ It’s not an experience I am proud of, I 
assure you. I told it you purely in the hope that it might 
open your eyes a little, but since you prefer to regard 
Bahram Khan as an interesting martyr ” 

“ Pray don’t mistake me. Miss North. If I believed that 
Bahram Khan had really devised this dastardly plot against 
you, I would hunt him down like a bloodhound until he 
was delivered up to justice, though that would mean the 
death of all my hopes for this frontier. In one way, of 
course, it would simplify matters a good deal. I am not in 
the habit of bothering ladies with politics, but there can be 
no harm in saying that it gives me great pain to differ from 
a man I respect as I do your brother. He has done so 
much for the frontier that it seems almost presumption in 
me, a new-comer, to set my opinion above his. However, I 
have formed that opinion after long and careful study of the 
Khemistan problem, and only the very strongest proof that 
I had been mistaken could induce me to alter it. But if 
you should be able to identify Bahram Khan’s servants as 
your assailants, it would be conclusive evidence that he is 
not the man I take him to be.” 

“ And then you would see that Dick was right, and leave 
him to manage things in his own way ? ” 

“My dear Miss North, we are now soaring into the 
domain of improbabilities. If my opinion were once modi- 
fied, it is possible that your brother’s view might prevail, or 
again, it might not.” 


WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. 


93 


“I am certain he would not be sorry if Bahram Khan 
was proved to be untrustworthy,” was Mabel’s mental 
comment. “ It would show him a way out of his difficulty. 
And now I shall be able to do it.” 

Mabel was particularly cheerful all the rest of the day, 
as indeed she had a right to be, for was she not about to 
secure the safety of the frontier ? Warned by her experience 
of the morning, she made no further attempt to entrap Mr 
Burgrave into a political discussion, but contented herself 
with showing in numberless little ways her gratitude for 
the concession he was prepared to make. She even 
welcomed his offer to introduce her to the beauties of Robert 
Browning, a poet whose works she had been wont to regard 
with the mingled alarm and dislike which, in the case of a 
modern young lady, can only spring from ignorance of 
them. He sent a servant back to the bungalow he had 
occupied to fetch the two portly volumes which, as he told 
her, always formed a part of his travelling library, and she 
read aloud to him without a murmur a considerable portion 
of “Paracelsus.” Under the combined influence of hia 
favourite poet and the reader’s voice, the Commissioner 
forgot alike his injuries and the difficulties which beset his 
policy, and the household fairly basked in his smiles. This, 
at least, was what Fitz Anstruther said, but he had happened 
to intrude upon the reading as the bearer of an important 
message from Dick, and was adversely affected by the 
peaceful scene. 

The next morning, as Dick was going to his office, Mabel 
intercepted him in the verandah. “ I am ready to identify 
those men as soon as you like, Dick,” she said. 

He looked at her in surprise. “Wouldn’t you rather 
wait until you have recovered a little from the shock ? ” he 
asked. 

“ Oh no, I’m all right now. I should like to get it over, 
Dick.” 

“ Well, you certainly seem to have picked up wonderfully. 
I suppose there’s no doubt of your knowing them again 'i ” 

Mabel shuddered. “ How could I help recognising them 
The red light, and those awful faces — it seems as if the 
whole thing was photographed on my mind. I should 
know them anywhere.” 

“Oh, all right. It would be far worse, you know, to 


94 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


try to identify them and fail than to let the thing go 
altogether.” 

“ You needn’t be afraid. Only I should be glad not to 
have to look forward to it much longer.” 

“Very well. No doubt it’s better to do it before the 
impression has a chance of fading from your mind. It’s a 
bother about the Commissioner, though. He insists on 
being present, and Georgie and Tighe say he mustn’t on 
any account be allowed to move until they have wired his 
knee. We shall have to carry his bed out on the verandah, 
I suppose. Just like him to think the show can’t go on 
without him. Of course he’s afraid we shall contrive to 
bring his protegd m guilty in some underhand way.” 

Mabel smiled as Dick went down the steps, for she knew 
better. Mr Burgrave’s anxiety was not so much for 
Bahram Khan personally as for his own schemes, and not 
so much for them as for the continuance of his friendship 
with the North family. This knowledge, and the pleasing 
conviction that she alone possessed it, sustained her when 
she was summoned in the afternoon to identify her three 
surviving assailants. 

“Come along,” said Dick, entering the drawing-room; 
“they’re all here, and Tighe has superintended the removal 
of the distinguished patient. They’re in the verandah out- 
side his room. Don’t be frightened, Mab. Georgia shall 
come too, and support you.” 

In spite of her resolution, Mabel trembled a little as she 
entered the improvised police-court, realising once more 
what issues hung upon her words. Fitz was there, and a 
Hindu clerk, and the Commissioner, propped up in bed. 
Before them stood a dozen natives with turbans and clothes 
of various degrees of picturesque dirt and raggedness, 
guarded by as many dismounted troopers armed to the 
teeth. 

“Now, Mab, pick ’em out,” murmured Dick, from behind 
his sister. 

“But there are too many men here. There were only 
three left,” objected Mabel, in a hasty whisper. 

“ Well, and you have to tell us which they were. You 
didn’t think we were going to parade the three prisoners 
and invite you to swear to them, did youl Now don’t 
waste the time of the court.” 


WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. 


95 


Absolute despair seized upon Mabel as she stood in front 
of the line of men, and looked shrinkingly into their faces. 
How was it possible that so many natives, differing presum- 
ably in origin and circumstances, could be -so much alike? 
Not one of them blenched under her timid scrutiny. Some 
looked stolid and some bored, and one or two even amused, 
but this gave her no help. At last, however, it struck her 
that there was something familiar in one or two of the 
faces. She moved a step or so in order to examine them 
more carefully, and then looked round at Dick and the rest. 

“This man,” she said, pointing to one, “and that one, 
and this.” 

“ You are certain ? ” asked Mr Burgrave. 

“ Yes ; I know their faces quite well.” 

This time an undisguised smile ran momentarily along 
the line of swarthy countenances, only to disappear before 
Dick’s frown. 

“Take them away,” he said to the troopers, and with a 
clanking of chains here and there, the prisoners and their 
guard departed. 

“What is the matter?” asked Mabel in bewilderment, 
as she looked from one to the other of the three chagrined 
faces before her. “ What have I done ? ” 

“ Oh, only identified as your assailants one of the chap- 
rads and a sowar in mufti and the gardener’s son, who were 
all peacefully going about their lawful business at the time 
of the outrage,” said Dick bitterly. “You have made us 
the laughing-stock of the frontier.” 

“ But — but weren’t the real men there at all ? ” 

“ Of course they were, but you passed them over.” 

“ And what will happen to them now ? ” 

“They’ll be discharged for lack of evidence, that’s all. 
Bahram Khan will testify that they had been to Nalapur 
on an errand for him, and other witnesses will swear that 
they saw and spoke to them there, and we can say nothing.” 


CHAPTER IX. 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL, 

“ ‘ Are we not halves of one dissevered world, 

Whom this strange chance unites once more ? Part 7 never I 
Till thou, the lover, know; and I, the knower, 

Love—’” 

read Mabel, and paused, since it was evident that her 
auditor had some remark to make. 

“ It has always seemed to me,” said Mr Burgrave, “ that 
in this meeting between Paracelsus and Aprile, whose 
characteristics are so essentially feminine, the poet has 
typified for aU time the union of the masculine and 
feminine elements in human nature. Woman — the 
creature of feeling, man — the creature of reason, neither 
complete without the other. Before perfection can be 
attained, the lover must learn to know, the knower to 
love.” 

“ All women are not creatures of feeling,” said Mabel. 
“But you would scarcely say that any woman was a 
creature of reason? Such a — a person would not bo a 
woman. She would be a monstrosity.” 

“I mean that I don’t think you can divide people by 
hard and fast lines in that way. It’s perfectly possible 
for a man to be a creature of feeling, and I know women 
who are quite as reasonable as any man.” 

“ Pardon me ; you don’t altogether follow my argument. 
I yield to no one in my admiration of the conclusions at 
wliich women arrive. They are often — one might say very 
often — astonishingly correct, but they are purely the result 
of a leap in the dark, and not of any process of reasoning. 
And since this is so, no wise man can feel safe in acting 
upon them, while where the lady — as is not infrequently 
the case with her charming sex — is biassed by her personal 
feelings, they are liable to be dangerously deceptive.” 

9Q 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 97 


Mabel closed the book with a bang. “I wonder,” she 
said angrily, “at your talking in this way, as if I 
wasn’t horribly humiliated enough already. It was simply 
a chance that I didn’t identify the right men, and I hmm 
just the same that it was Bahram Khan who employed 
them.” 

Mr Bur grave raised his eyebrows slightly. “ Indeed, my 
dear Miss North, you must pardon my maladroitness. I 
assure you that I had no intention whatever of alluding 
to the — let us say the disagreeable incident of yesterday. 
I was dealing purely with generalities.” 

“ But you yourself know perfectly well — though you pre-- 
tend not to think so — that it was Bahram Khan,” persisted 
Mabel. 

The Commissioner raised himself on his elbow and looked 
straight at her, and Mabel quailed. “And is it possible,” 
he demanded, “ that you believe I am deliberately shelter- 
ing from justice, contrary to the dictates of my own con- 
science, a wretch who has dared to raise his hand against 
an Englishwoman — against \a lady for whom I have the 
highest regard! No, Miss North, you must be good enough 
to withdraw those words. Even your brother and his wife 
are sufficiently just to believe me an honourable man, 
although we differ on so many points.” 

The stern blue eyes under the lowering brows seemed to 
pierce Mabel through and through. She half rose from 
her chair, then sat down again, and repressed with diffi- 
culty a threatened burst of tears. 

“I — I didn’t mean that,” she faltered. “All I meant 
was that I didn’t see how you could think anything else 
when we are all so sure of it.” 

“Allow me to say that I credit you with the sincerity 
you refuse to recognise in me. Your brother has a strong 
prejudice — there is no other word for it — against Bahram 
Khan, which he has transmitted to you, and you look at 
the facts in the light of that prejudice. I was perfectly 
willing to be convinced of the young man’s guilt by the 
merest shred of anything that could be called evidence, but 
none was produced. The case against him broke down 
completely. Would you have me withdraw my counte- 
nance from a man whom I conscientiously believe to be 
innocent, and ruin all his prospects, simply on the score 

G 


98 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


of an unf — unsupported opinion of yours? No, Miss 
North, I won’t believe it of you. You must perceive that 
I am right.” 

“ But you said our intuitions were wonderfully correct, 
and that your judgment was incomplete by itself,” urged 
Mabel. 

“ To be of any real value, the feminine intuition must be 
confirmed by the masculine judgment. Its use is purely 
supplementary.” 

“ Oh, Mr Burgrave, you can’t really mean that ! Why, 
my brother would never dream of doing anything without 
consulting his wife. He thinks most highly of her judg- 
ment.” 

“ Surely Major North is the best judge of his own affairs ? ” 
suggested Mr Burgrave dryly. “ If he has confidence in his 
wife’s judgment, it is only natural he should wish to avail 
himself of it. Such would not be my case, I confess, but 
then, the confidence would be wanting.” 

“ But, according to you, I ought to model my opinions 
on some one’s,” said Mabel — “ Dick’s, I suppose — and that’s 
just what you have been scolding me for doing.” 

“Dick’s?” said the Commissioner reflectively. “No, 
not Dick’s, I think. That was not at all what I had in my 
mind. Miss North. And have I been scolding you, or is 
that another mistaken intuition ? You know how gladly I 
would have accepted your view of Bahram Khan’s guilt, if 
that had been possible ? ” 

“ I know you said so, and I hoped so much ” Mabel’s 

eyes were full of tears. 

“ And do you know why that was ? ” 

“ No, indeed, I can’t imagine.” She spoke hastily, scent- 
ing danger. The Commissioner smiled paternally. 

“ No ? Then will you do me the favour to consider the 
matter ? Ask yourself why I was willing, even anxious, to 
be converted from my own opinion. When you have arrived 
at the answer, I shall know.” 

He smiled at her again from his pillows, but Mabel 
muttered something incoherent and fled. 

“I don’t know what to do ! ” she cried, in the seclusion 
of her own room. “ Does he think I am a baby, or a little 
school-girl? If he wants to propose, why can’t he do it 
straight out. and take his refusal like a man? I know 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 99 

how to manage that sort of thing. But to break the idea 
to me gradually in this way, as if I was — oh, I don’t know 
what — a sort of fairy that must be handled gently for fear 
it should vanish into thin air — it’s insufferable ! And the 
worst of it is, I can’t quite make out how to stop it. I 
seem somehow to have got myself into his power.” 

To see as little of Mr Burgrave as possible, and to confine 
the conversation to safe subjects when she did meet him, 
was the remedy which naturally suggested itseK, and Mabel 
did her best to apply it; but, to her dismay, it did not 
appear to produce any effect. She had even a distinct 
feeling that it was just what Mr Burgrave had expected. 
Moreover, it was extremely difficult to put in practice. 
Now that the operation had been performed on the patient’s 
knee, and the leg fixed immovably in a splint, he was 
allowed to be lifted on a couch, and thus to spend his days 
in the society of his hosts. Dick was out as much as ever, 
and when Georgia was busy, it was obviously Mabel’s duty 
to entertain the invalid. It is sad to relate that when 
escape proved impossible, she was reduced to assuming an 
intense interest in the study of Browning, toiling through 
“Bordello” with astonishing patience. But if any valid 
excuse offered itself for leaving Mr Burgrave to his own 
reflections, she embraced it gladly, and when the arrival in 
the neighbourhood of one of the nomadic tribes brought 
Georgia a sudden rush of patients, she volunteered at once 
to help her in dealing with them. 

The surgery in which Georgia received her visitors was 
a building standing by itself in the compound, and ap- 
proached by a special gate in the wall, so that the ladies 
might come to see their doctor without fear of encounter- 
ing any rude masculine gaze. As an additional precau- 
tion, when the wives of any of the chief men came to the 
surgery, they brought a youth with them as attendant, 
who mounted guard over a motley array of slippers at the 
door, and completed the security against profane intrusion. 
Inside, Georgia dealt with the cases individually in a small 
room at one end, while in the large room the visitors sat on 
the floor in rows, looking at the pictures on the walls, or 
listening casually to the Biblewoman, trained by Miss 
Jenkins at the Bab-us-Sahel Mission, who sat among them 
g|,p(J read or talked, At the other end was another small 


LofC. 


100 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


room, where a patient and her friends were occasionally 
accommodated when Georgia had any special reason for 
wishing to keep the case under her own eye, and the 
husband was more than usually indulgent. At other times 
there stood in this room a spring bedstead, which was never 
used, but which the women made up parties to inspect, 
personally conducted by Kahah. There was a history attach- 
ing to this object of pilgrimage. Two years before a lady 
globe-trotter of exalted rank, in the course of an adventurous 
flying visit to the frontier, had spent a night at the Norths’, 
and been stirred to enthusiasm by Georgia’s quiet but far- 
reaching work among the women. Her Grace deplored 
sympathetically the absence of a proper hospital, and 
ofiFered to put her London drawing-room at Mrs North’s 
disposal during her next visit home, that she might plead 
for funds to establish one. Georgia pointed out, however, 
that the smallness of the station, and the uncertain character 
of the wanderings of the tribes, would probably result in 
leaving the hospital empty for eleven months out of the 
year, while if Dick should be transferred to another post, 
its raison d’Hre would be gone. The duchess was dis- 
appointed, but not crushed. Would Mrs North allow her 
to send a gift, just one, to the surgery as it stood at 
present? She could not bear to think of the terrible 
discomfort the poor sick women must suffer. 

Georgia consented, and after a time the gift arrived, 
brought up-country at a vast expenditure of toil and money. 
It was a regulation hospital bed, the very latest patent, 
which could be made to roll itself the wrong way like a 
bucking horse, stand up on end, kneel down like a camel, 
dislocate itself in unexpected places, and perform other 
acrobatic feats, all by turning a handle. Rahah sat before 
it in silent admiration for a whole morning, occasionally 
• pressing the wires gently down for the pleasure of seeing them 
rise again. When she had drunk in this delight sufficiently, 
she ventured to put the bedstead through its paces, rushing 
to summon her mistress in joyful awe at each new trick she 
discovered. But so far, her enjoyment was incomplete. 
To be perfect, the bed needed a patient to occupy it, and at 
last one was brought in by her friends, crippled by some 
rheumatic affection. Ilahah herself laid her on the bed, 
only to behold her leap from it immediately with the 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 101 


strength of perfect health. There was an evil spirit in the 
bed, she declared. All other beds sank when you lay down 
upon them, this one rose up. And in spite of the wonderful 
cure of this first and only case, the bed was never 
occupied again. It was talked of all along the frontier, the 
women came for miles to see it, and watched in shuddering 
delight while Rahah showed them what it could do ; but it 
was only very rarely that a heroine could be found bold 
enough even to touch it with a finger. Meanwhile, the 
patients continued to sleep on their mats or their charpoys, 
insisting that the bed should be turned out of the room 
before they would take up their quarters there, lest the evil 
spirit should seize upon them during the hours of darkness. 

On this particular morning Rahah was exhibiting the 
wonders of the bed to a party of new arrivals, and Mabel 
was deputed to see that the patients were admitted into 
Georgia’s sanctum in proper order, and only one at a time. 
Seeing that they were all comfortably seated facing the 
Biblewoman, she thought it would be best to begin with 
those nearest the door, thus going through the whole 
assemblage methodically. The women, on the other hand, 
considered that the worst cases ought to be seen first, and 
each woman was firmly convinced that her own case was 
the worst of all. Hence arose an uproar, in which the 
sympathising friends accompanjdng each would-be patient 
joined with all the force of their lungs, besieging the un- 
fortunate Mabel, who could not understand a word, with 
a tumult of assertions, contradictions, and maledictions. At 
last one woman, who carried a baby, was seized with a 
bright idea. Flinging away a fold of her veil from the 
child’s face, she held it out to Mabel, exhibiting the awful 
condition of its eyes, which were almost sightless from 
neglected ophthalmia, as an incontestable proof of her right 
to the first place. The hint was not lost upon the other 
women, and in a moment Mabel was surrounded by sights 
from which she recoiled in horror. At first she was too 
much appalled to move, as each woman displayed triumph- 
antly the urgency of her own need, and then she turned 
sick and faint. The agglomeration of so many miseries 
was too much for her. Rahah, returning at the moment, 
left the outer door open, and this gave her courage to 
escape. Pressing her hands over her eyes, she burst 


102 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


through the astonished crowd, drank in a draught of pure 
fresh air, and then fairly ran across the compound and 
back to the house. Mounting the steps with difficulty, she 
staggered and caught at the rail to steady herself, only 
avoiding a fall by a wild clutch at one of the pillars when 
she reached the top. An exclamation of concern reached 
her ears, and she became dimly conscious that Mr Burgrave 
was making desperate efforts to rise from his couch. 

“You are ill. Miss North ! What is it? You don’t mean 
to say that another attempt has been made ? ” 

“To carry me off? Oh no, not quite so near home.” 
Mabel laughed a little, and as she began to see more 
clearly, noticed how the remorseful anxiety in his face gave 
place to unfeigned relief. “No, I’m not ill, only silly and 
faint.” 

“ Try a whiff of this, then.” He passed her a bottle of 
salts. “ I was allowed to revive myself with it when my 
doctors had been investigating the inside of my knee a 
little more closely than was pleasant.” 

“ Oh, don’t ! ” cried Mabel faintly. “ I never want to 
hear a doctor mentioned again.” 

“Why, what has happened? Has Mrs North turned 
vivisectionist ? ” 

“No, of course not. It was only that I was helping her 
with her patients, and they had such awful things the 
matter with them that I — well, I ran away.” 

“And very wisely. Do I understand that Mrs North 
required you to expose yourself to the sight of these horrors ? 
It is monstrous ! ” 

“ She didn’t ask me to come ; I offered to help her.” 

“ In the hope of pleasing her, of course. It is all the 
same. In the abundant strength of mind and body she 
possesses, she forgets that other people are more delicately 
organised than herself. I am amazed at her laek of con- 
sideration.” 

“ I won’t have you say such things about Georgia ! ” 
cried Mabel. “ She is the best and dearest woman I know.” 

“ I honour your enthusiasm. Pray don’t mistake me. I 
have the highest possible esteem myself for Mrs North, but 
she is a little too strenuous for my taste.” 

“ I wouldn’t have her the least bit different. I wish I 
was like her, instead of being so silly and cowardly,” 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 103 


“ No, Miss North, let me beg of you not to wish that. I 
would not have ycm different. Your sister-in-law’s training 
and her past experiences account for many — er — remark- 
able points in her character, but, believe me, your true 
friends would rather see in you this womanly shrinking 
from the sight of suffering than a bold determination to 
relieve it.” 

“ I hope I may consider you one of those true friends ? ” 
Mabel tried to infuse a note of strong sarcasm into her voice. 

“ I hope you may. It is difficult, is it not, to feel con- 
fidence in one who differs so totally from Mrs North and 
her husband? But this is a question upon which we will 
not enter — yet.” 

“ Could I say that I preferred to enter upon it at once ? ” 
Mabel demanded angrily of herself when she had made 
her escape. “ Somehow he gets such an advantage over me 
by putting me down in that lofty way, and yet I don’t know 
how to stop it. The idea of his daring' to criticise Georgie 
to me ! ” 

But Mr Burgrave was even bolder than Mabel imagined. 
Keturning the next morning from a ride with Fitz Anstruther, 
she was greeted by a laugh from Georgia as she mounted 
the steps. 

“ Oh, Mab, I have been having quite a sqolding, and all 
about you ! It’s clear that I am not worthy to have such a 
sister-in-law.” 

“ Georgie ! you don’t mean that Mr Burgrave has been so 
rude as to ” 

“Now, Mab, you know better than that. It would be 
impossible to him to be rude. He simply took me to task, 
very mildly and calmly, about the way I neglect you, though 
I stand to you in the place of a mother ” 

“Nonsense !” exclaimed Mabel, her face scarlet. 

“ So he says. It seems I am lacking in the tenderness 
which should be lavished upon you. Our rough frontier 
life ought to be tempered to you by all sorts of sweetness 
and light which I have made no attempt to supply. I have 
been inconsiderate in bringing you into contact with the 
revolting details of my professional work, and a lot more. 
Do forgive me, Mab. I really haven’t meant to do all these 
dreadful things, but you did want to make acquaintance 
with realities, you know.” 


104 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ That man is getting unbearable ! ” broke from Mabel. 
“I shall speak to him— No, I shan’t,” she added wearily; 
“ it’s no good. He gets the better of me somehow or other. 
Can’t you put a little cold poison into his medicine, Georgie 1 
Surely it’s a case in which the end would justify the 
means.” 

She went indoors with rather a forced laugh, and Fitz, 
who had been looking out over the desert without appearing 
to notice what was being said, turned round suddenly to 
Georgia. 

“Can you honestly expect me to stand all this much 
longer, Mrs North?” 

“ All what ? ” asked Georgia, in astonishment. 

“The Commissioner’s intolerable assumption. Any one 
would think he was Miss North’s guardian, or her father, 
or even” — with a fierce laugh — “her husband. What 
right has he to take it upon himself to defend her?— as 
if she needed any defending against you ! It’s nothing but 
his arrogant impudence.” 

“ But still ” — Georgia spoke with some hesitation — “ how 
does it affect you ? ” 

“ Oh, Mrs North, you needn’t pretend not to have noticed. 
You know as well as I do that the Commissioner and I are 
both — er — well, we are both awfully gone on Miss North, 
and he isn’t playing fair. You have seen it, haven’t you ? ” 

“ I have, indeed, but I hoped you hadn’t quite found out 
what your real feelings were.” 

“ Surely you must have thought me a hopeless idiot ? I 
found out all about it the day she had that fall from her 
horse.” 

“So long ago as that? Why, you had scarcely known 
her a fortnight ! ” 

“But I met her first years ago, before we went to 
Kubbet-ul-Haj. Besides, what does it signify if I had 
only known her an hour? It is the kind of feeling one 
can only have for one woman in one’s life.” 

“But you didn’t say anything?” asked Georgia anxiously. 

Fitz laughed shamefacedly. “No, I have said nothing 
even yet. The fact is, it seemed sacrilege even to think of 
it. She is so lovely, so sweet, so far above me in every 
way ! Oh, Mrs North, I could rave about her for hours.” 

“And so you shall,” was the cordial but unexpected 


WOUNDED HEEO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 105 


response, “ as often as you like, and I will listen patiently, 
provided that you still say nothing to her.” 

“No, no; things can’t go on in this way. You see, the 
Cominissioner has changed all that. He goes in and fights 
for his own hand in the most barefaced way, and I must 
get my innings too. After all, though it sounds horribly 
low to say it, I did kill the fellow that was carrying her off, 
and bring her back.” 

“Of course you did. If that was all, you certainly 
deserve to win her.” 

“Yes; but then the Commissioner scores in having got 
hurt. He sees her for ever so long every day, and she is 
so awfully kind, talking to him and reading to him, and 
letting him prose away to her, that no wonder he thinks 
he is making splendid running. I only wish I had got 
hurt too.” 

“ Do you really ? ” asked Georgia, with meaning in her 
tone. 

“No, Mrs North, you’re right; I don’t. If we had both 
been hurt there would have been no one with the slightest 
chance of catching up the rascals. Whether she takes him 
or me in the end, I did save her, at any rate.” 

“Good,” said Georgia encouragingly. “I like that 
spirit.” 

“ Well, now you know how things stand. You see what 
an advantage the Kumpsioner Sahib is taking of her grati- 
tude and your kindness, and you can guess how I feel 
about it. Tell me candidly, do you think I have the 
slightest chance 1 Why did you say that you hoped I had 
not understood my own feelings 1 ” 

“Simply because a waiting game is your only chance. 
Since you ask me, I will speak plainly. You are younger 
than Mabel, you know; it is undeniable, unfortunately” — 
as Fitz made a gesture of impatience — “ and Dick and I have 
got into the way of treating you like a son or a brother — 
a very much younger brother. We haven’t taken you 
seriously, and I am very much afraid Mabel doesn’t either. 
Mr Burgrave holds a very high position, and he is a man of 
great distinction. We on this frontier cherish an unfor- 
tunate prejudice against him, of course, but elsewhere he 
is considered most charming and fascinating. How can she 
but feel flattered by his homage ? And he has undoubtedly 


106 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


acquired a great influence over her; I can’t help seeing 
that. And yet I can’t make out that she cares for him, 
and I have watched her closely.” 

“Well, that is one grain of comfort, at any rate,” said Fitz 
disconsolately. “ But he is not going to carry her off with- 
out my having the chance to say a word to her first, I can 
tell him.” 

Georgia looked up anxiously. “Don’t throw away your 
only hope,” she entreated. “What you have to do is to 
make yourself necessary to her. You have been managing 
very well hitherto — always ready to do anything she wanted. 
Make yourself so useful to her as a friend that she would 
rather keep you as a lover than lose you altogether.” 

“ Oh, I say, Mrs North, you don’t flatter a man’s vanity 
much ! ” 

“Yes, I do. At least, I am showing that I think you 
capable of a great deal of self-effacement for the sake of 
winning her.” 

“ And if the Commissioner carries her off meanwhile ? ” 

“ I don’t think he will, provided you let her alone. But 
if you worry her to have you, she may accept him just to be 
rid of your attentions. And then there will be nothing to 
be done but to bear it like a man.” 

“You don’t disguise the taste of your medicines much, 
Mrs Dr North. I’ll chew the bitter pill as I ride, and try 
to look as if I liked it. I was to meet the Major at the old 
fort at ten o’clock. It’s awfully good of you to have 
listened so patiently to my symptoms, and prescribed for 
me so fully.” 

He ran down the steps and rode away, arriving at the 
fort a little late, to find that Dick was already discussing 
with Colonel Graham the business on which they had come. 
A series of small thefts, irritating rather than serious, had 
occurred on the club premises of late, and the minds of the 
members were exercised over the question of their pre- 
vention in future. As Fitz rode up Dick and Colonel 
Graham were descending to the courtyard after making 
the round of the walls, and the former signed to him to 
wait where he was. 

“ I never remember such a succession of petty robberies 
before,” said Colonel Graham. “ The natives must be in a 
very unsettled state.” 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 107 


“I’m not sorry these things have happened,” returned 
Dick. “ In fact, I’m glad of it.” 

Colonel Graham glanced at him. “ What have you got 
in your head 1 ” he asked. 

“ Simply this. I suppose you believe, as I do, that the 
thief gets in by climbing over the wall, while the watchman 
is busy guarding the gateway and never thinks that there 
is any other means of entering ? ” 

“ That’s my idea. In a climate like this mud-brick is 
bound to go pretty soon if it isn’t looked after, and for 
years the rain has washed it down into these rubbish-heaps, 
till they are as good as so many flights of steps. What 
with the grass and bushes growing all about, it’s as easy as 
possible to get in. I could do it myself.” 

“Then you agree that it would be as well to make it 
harder 1 I propose that we call a club meeting and invite 
subscriptions for the purpose of putting the walls into 
proper repair. Otherwise we shall soon have the place 
down on our heads.” 

“But that sort of thing will take a long time to 
organise.” 

“It needn’t, since it’s only to keep the natives from 
thinking there’s anything up. So far as I can see, there’s 
no particular reason why you and I shouldn’t head the sub- 
scription list with a thousand rupees each — so that the most 
pressing work may be begun at once — or why that two 
thousand rupees shouldn’t last out better than such a sum 
ever did before.” 

“Good! Are we to take the young fellows into our 
confidence 1 ” 

“ Runcorn may as well know all about it. A sapper will 
be useful in deciding what it’s possible to do in the time. 
Happily he and the canal people have kept the wall over- 
looking the water in tolerable repair. As for the other 
sides, we must clear away the rubbish from the foot of the 
walls, and build up the parapets where the bricks have 
weathered away. The bushes must go, naturally, and the 
ramparts be made a fairly safe promenade — for the ladies, 
of course. The tower stairs are awfully dangerous, and it 
will be quite natural to have them seen to, and the floors 
and loopholes may as well be looked after while we are 
about it, though we shall never get a satisfactory flanking 


108 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


fire without rebuilding the whole thing. I shall take it 
upon myself to present the place with a new gate — not 
obtrusively martial in appearance, but with a certain reserve 
strength about it. My wife will think me a terrible Vandal 
for spoiling the beautiful ruin her father left behind him, 
but it’s obvious that the chaulcidar will be able to look after 
the place better when there’s a gate to shut.” 

“ I should say there won’t be much ruin left when you 
have done with it,” said Colonel Graham. “It’s a mere 
coincidence that our largest godown turns out to be in the 
way of the canal extension works, and has been condemned. 
There would be no harm in storing the corn and a few other 
little trifles in the vaults under the club-house, and it would 
give us an excuse for posting a sentry here at night.” 

“Good,” said Dick, in his turn. “What accomplished 
deceivers we shall be by the time this is over, if we live to 
see it ! ” 

“ You think things are in a bad way 1 ” 

“ What do you t&nk yourself ? ” 

“ I ? I have no opinion. You have been on this frontier 
much longer than I have, and you are in political charge. 
I’ve seen enough to know that there’s something queer 
going on, that’s all.” 

“ I’U tell you one thing that’s going on. Five times in 
the last fortnight I have received secret information of 
tribal gatherings which were to be held without my know- 
ledge. Of course I made a point of turning up, and 
behaving just as if I had received an invitation in due 
form.” 

“ Well, that was all right, so far.” 

“Yes, but think of the jirgahs that I did not hear of. 
What went on at them ? ” 

“ I see ; it looks bad. Wliat do you propose doing ? ” 

“What ought to be done is to revive the martial law 
proclamation, which has been in abeyance for the last four 
years. But I am not supreme here just now.” 

“Surely the Commissioner would not interfere with the 
exercise of your authority % ” 

“The Commissioner has imbibed so many horrors about 
the Khemistan frontier that he is pleased every morning to 
find himself alive, and the house not burnt over his head. 
I believe he regards the improvement as due to his owu 


WOUNDED HERO AND MINISTERING ANGEL. 109 


presence here, and at the same time considers it an ad- 
ditional proof that Khemistan may now be governed like all 
the other provinces. If I had things my own way, my 
very first move would be to deport Burgrave, preferably to 
Simla, where he could both be happy himself and a cause of 
happiness to others, but as it is, he will probably deport 
me.” 

“ Then you believe he has some trick on hand too ? ” 

“I’m sure of it. He is in constant communication with 
Government. Beardmore and his clerks come to him every 
day ” — Beardmore was the Commissioner’s private secretary, 
and a man after his chief’s own heart, of the type that 
considers it has successfully surmounted a crisis when it has 
drawn up a state-paper on the subject, and has no incon- 
venient yearnings after energetic action — “and he is busy 
with them for hours, concocting a report on the state of the 
frontier, I suppose. When that is finished, we may expect 
the blow.” 

“ What is it that you expect exactly ? A friend of mine 
at headquarters tells me there’s a persistent rumour ” 

“That they intend to withdraw the subsidy, and cut 
loose from Nalapur? Just so. And that means the deluge 
for us. The blessed word Non-intervention will bring about 
the need for intervention, as usual.” 

“ Our people will rise ? ” 

“Not at first. Bahram Khan will probably remove his 
uncle quietly, and in order to still any unpleasant rumours, 
encourage raids on us, which will serve the further purpose 
of awakening the appetite for blood and loot. The Sardars 
wiU be got to believe that we have only drawn back in 
order to advance better, and that their one chance is to 
make the first move. They wiU cross the border, and our 
people will join them.” 

“And we shall be thankful for the fort? North, in view 
of aU this, what do you say to sending the ladies down to 
Bab-us-Sahel for a while ? ” 

“I don’t know,” answered Dick hesitatingly. “I 
thought of suggesting to my wife that she should go down 
there and do some shopping.” 

“ But you fancied she’d see through it ? Probably. She 
was born and bred here, and knows the weather-signs as 
well as you do. What’s the good of trying to throw dust 


110 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


in her eyes 1 Put it to her plainly that, as things are, you 
would feel much happier if she was away, and she’ll go like 
a shot. Your sister and my Flora will go with her, and 
they’ll be a pleasant party.” 

“She won’t like going when there’s no sign of danger, 
and it might precipitate the crisis, too. Perhaps when 
Burgrave launches his thunderbolt ” 

“ If you could only get him to escort the ladies down at 
once, we might pull through yet.” 

“No fear,” said Dick bitterly, “until he’s done his 
worst.” 


CHAPTER X. 


GAININO A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 

“No bathing to-day, Mab!” laughed Georgia, meeting 
Mabel in her riding-habit in the hall. 

“You mean that we can’t ride ? Why not ? ” 

“Now you look just like the prehistoric lady in the 
picture ! Because there’s a dust-storm coming on. I meant 
to tell you before, but you rushed away from the breakfast- 
table so quickly. I have been hurrying Dick off, that he 
may get to the office before it begins.” 

“ But how do you know there’s going to be a dust-storm 
at all ? I thought that before they came on the sky was 
copper-coloured, and the air got like an oven ? ” 

“Well, the sky is getting black, as you can see. Dust- 
storms here are not confined to the hot weather, they come 
all the year round. It’s the merest chance that there 
hasn’t been one yet since you arrived.” 

“ How horrid that it should come just to-day ! ” said 
Mabel snappishly. “ I told Mr Anstruther I was tired of 
riding Simorgh, and he must really bring Laili back. He 
said he couldn’t be sure she was cured yet, and I told him 
he might use a leading-rein if he liked, but that I meant to 
ride her. We weren’t going at all near the frontier, or 
anywhere in the direction of Dera Gul.” 

“My beloved Mab, dust-storms don’t respect British 
territory, and if you had once been out in one you wouldn’t 
wish to repeat the experience, even if you were in a posi- 
tion to do it. Go and take your habit off, and when Mr 
Anstruther comes, I will tell him to send the horses to the 
stables, and wait here until the storm is over. Then you 
will have some one to talk to. See that the servants shut 
all your windows.” 

But when Mabel emerged again from her darkened room 
into the lighted haU, the disappointment caused by the 

111 


112 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


loss of her ride was mingled with a certain amount of 
ill-humour, due to an even more untoward occurrence. The 
ayah Tara had chosen this particular morning for passing 
in review all her mistress’s best gowns and hats, with an 
eye to any little repairs that might be necessary, and having 
taken the garments from their respective boxes and spread 
them out all over the room, had sat down to contemplate 
them for a while before setting to work. She was not 
accustomed to the peculiarities of the Khemistan climate, 
and the gathering darkness appeared to her only as the 
precursor of a thunderstorm. Hence, when the first gust of 
raging wind whirled a cloud of gritty dust through the open 
windows, she was as much astonished as Mabel herself, who 
was entering the room at the moment, and was almost 
knocked down. Both mistress and maid flew at once to 
shut the windows, but in the wind and darkness this was 
by no means an easy task, and before it could be accom- 
plished the dust lay thick all over the room and its contents. 
Such a contretemps was enough to provoke a saint, Mabel 
said to herself angrily, when she had left the weeping Tara 
to do what she could to repair the mischief, and it would be 
idle to deny that she was feeling very cross indeed as she 
entered the drawing-room with a bundle of letters in her 
hand. 

The shutters were closed and the lamps lighted as if it 
were night, and the dust pattered like hail on the verandah 
whenever the howling of the wind would allow any other 
sound to be heard. Fitz Anstruther was sitting near the 
fireplace, looking through an old magazine, and Mabel, re- 
jecting his suggestion of a game of chess, seated herself at 
the writing-table, saying that she must finish her letters 
for the mail. She found it difficult to write, however, for 
although she would not look up, she could not help being 
conscious that her companion’s eyes were much oftener 
fixed on her than on the printed page before him. Accus- 
tomed though she was to such homage from men, this time 
it made her nervous, and at last she could bear it no 
longer. 

“Wouldn’t you like something to do?” she demanded 
suddenly, turning round and catching him in the act of 
looking at her, but he was equal to the occasion. 

“ Something to do ? Something for you, do you mean ? 


GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 113 

May I really write your letters for you? I’m sure the 
Major has given me plenty of practice in that sort of thing, 
and your friends would be so surprised to find you had set 
up a private secretary.” 

“ Thanks, but I don’t seem to be in the mood for letter- 
writing, and certainly not for dictating.” 

“ Then may I hold a skein of silk for you to wind ? 
That’s the sort of thing they set a mere man down to in 
books.” 

“I don’t use silk of that sort. Is there nothing you 
would like to do ? ” 

“ Yes, awfully. I should like to talk to you.” 

“I think I shall go and read to the Commissioner,” 
severely. 

“ It would only be wasting sweetness on the desert air. 
He’s perfectly happy at this moment, with Beardmore plot- 
ting treason in a confidential report, and about six clerks 
writing away for him as hard as they can write, and he 
wouldn’t appreciate an interruption.” 

“I suppose you are judging Mr Burgrave by yourself 
when you say he will be happier if I keep away ? ” 

“if Oh no; I was judging him by himself. The 
Kumpsioner Sahib doesn’t think ladies and affairs of state 
go well together, you know.” 

“ Indeed ? ” Mabel was bitterly conscious that she bore 
a grudge against the Commissioner for this very reason, but 
she had no intention of admitting the fact. 

“Why, do you mean that he vouchsafes to talk shop to 
you alone, out of all the world of women ? What an im- 
portant person you are, Miss North ! Think of having the 
run of the Commissioner’s state secrets ! But of course one 
can see why he does it. How unfairly people are dealt 
with in this world ! WTiy have I no official secrets to 
confide? Supposing I spy round and amass some, may I 
expound them to you for three or four hours a day ? ” 

“ WTiat nonsense ! ” said Mabel, with some warmth. “ Mr 
Burgrave is only teaching me to appreciate Browning.” 

“ And you fly to state secrets for relief in the intervals ! • 
Miss North, won’t you teach me to appreciate Browning? 
I’ll wire to Bombay at once for the whole twenty-nine 
volumes, if you will.” 

“ I really have no time to waste ” 


lU 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ Oh, how unkind ! Consider the crushing effect of your 
words. Do you truly think me such an idiot that teaching 
me would be waste of time 1 ” 

Mabel laughed in spite of herself. “ You didn’t let me 
finish my sentence,” she said. “ I was going to say that it 
would be only a waste of your time, too, to try to learn 
anything from me.” 

“ Never ! Say the word, and I enrol myself your pupil 
for ever.” 

“ You must have a very poor opinion of me as a teacher, 
I’m afraid, if you think it would take a lifetime to turn you 
out a finished scholar.” 

“ How you do twist a man’s words ! The fault would be 
on my side, of course. I was going to say the misfortune, 
but it would be good fortune for me,” Fitz added, in a low 
voice. 

(“ Now, if I don’t keep my head, something will happen ! ” 
said Mabel to herself, conscious that the atmosphere was 
becoming electric.) Aloud she remarked lightly, “Ah, 
you have given yourseK away. Do you think I would have 
anything to do with a pupil who was determined not to 
learn r’ 

“Not if he has learnt all you can teach him ? ” demanded 
Fitz, rising and coming towards her. “ Please understand that 
there is nothing more for me to learn. I want to teach you.” 

“ Oh, thanks ! but I haven’t offered myself as a pupil,” 
with a nervous laugh. 

“No, it’s the other way about. I want to teach you to 
care for me as you have made me care for you. Well, not 
like that, perhaps ; I couldn’t expect it. But you do care 
for me a little, don’t you ” 

“ Mr Anstruther ! — I am astonished — ” stammered Mabel. 

“ Are you really 1 What a bad teacher I must be ! I 
know all the other men are wild after you, of course, but I 
thought it was different, somehow, between you and me, as 
if — well, almost as if we were made for each other, as people 
say. I have felt something of the sort from the very first. 
I love you, Mabel, and I think you do like me rather, don’t 
you? You have been so awfully kind in letting me do 
things for you, and it has driven all the rest mad with envy. 
I believe I could make you love me in time, if you would 
let me try. There’s nothing in the whole world I wouldn’t 


GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 115 

do for you. If only you won’t shut your heart up against 
me, I think you’ll have to give in.” 

He was holding her hands tightly as he spoke, and 
Mabel trembled under the rush of his words. Was she 
going to faint, or what was the meaning of that wild 
throbbing at her heart? Clearly she must act decisively 
and at once, or this teihpestuous young man would think 
he had taken her by storm. She summoned hastily the 
remnants of her pride. 

“Please go and sit down over there,” she said, freeing 
her hands from his grasp. “ How can I think properly 
when you are towering over me like that ? ” Fitz did not 
offer to move, and by way of redressing the inequality, she 
rose also, supporting herself by laying a shaking hand upon 
the writing-table. “I am so very sorry and — and sur- 
prised about this. I had no idea ” 

“ None 1 ” he asked. 

“ I mean I never thought it would go as far as this — 
that you would be so persistent — so much in earnest.” 

“ A new light on the matter, evidently.” As she grew 
more agitated, Fitz had become calmer. 

“ Because it’s impossible, you know.” 

“ Excuse me, I don’t know anything of the kind.” 

“You are a great deal younger than I am, for one 
thing.” 

“ Barely three years, and it’s a fault that will mend.” 

“ No, it won’t. As you get older, I shall get old faster, 
and if there is a thing I detest, it is to see a young man 
with an elderly wife. I could not endure to feel that I was 
growing old while you were still in the prime of life. You 
would hate it yourself, too, and you would leave off caring 
for me, and we should both be miserable.” 

“ Try me ! ” said Fitz, with a light in his eyes that she 
could not meet. 

“And then there’s another thing,” she went on hurriedly. 
“ I know it sounds horrid to say it, but — it’s not only that 
three years — you are so young for your age. I’m not a 
reasonable creature like Georgia ; I simply long to be made 
to obey, whether I like it or not. I feel that I want a 
master, but I could make you do what I liked.” 

“ Could you ? But perhaps I could make you do what I 
liked. Just look at me for a moment.” 


116 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


But Mabel covered her eyes. “ No, I won’t. It sounds 
as if I had been inviting you to master me, which wouldn’t 
be at all what I meant. Please understand, once for all, 
that I don’t care for you enough to marry you.” 

“Very well. But you will one day. If I am young, 
there’s one good thing about it — I can wait.” 

“It’s no good whatever your thinking that I shall 
change.” 

“ That is my business, please. I presume my thoughts 
are my own ? and I feel that I shall teach you to love me yet.” 

“ I shouldn’t have thought,” ’said Mabel indignantly, 
“ that it was like you to persecute a woman who had re- 
fused you.” 

“ Don’t be afraid. I shall not persecute you ; I shall 
simply wait.” 

“ And try to make me miserable by looking doleful 1 I 
call that persecution, just the same. No, really, if you are 
going to be so disagreeable, I shall have to speak to my 
brother, and ask him to get you transferred somewhere else, 
and that would be very bad for your prospects.” 

Mabel thought that this threat sounded extremely telling, 
but to Fitz, who had declined excellent posts in other parts 
of the province, rather than quit the frontier which grows 
to have such a strange fascination for every KFemistan man, 
it was less alarming. 

“Don’t trouble to get protection from the Major, Miss 
North. I assure you it won’t be necessary.” 

“But am I to be kept in perpetual dread of having to 
discuss this — this unpleasant subject? I think it is very 
unkind of you,” said Mabel, with tears in her eyes, “for 
I had come to like you so much as a friend, and you were 
always so useful, and now ” 

“And now I intend to be quite as useful, and just as 
much your friend, I hope, as before. Let us make a 
bargain. You may feel quite safe. I won’t attempt to 
approach the unpleasant subject without your leave.” 

Mabel looked at him in astonishment. “But I should 
never give you leave, you know,” she said. 

“ As you please. Then the subject will never be renewed. 
I am content to wait.” 

“But what is the good of waiting when I have told 
you ” 


GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 117 

“ Come, I don’t think you can deny me that consolation, 
can you, when you have the whole thing in your own hands ? 
Is it a bargain 1 ” 

“ It doesn’t seem fair to let you go on hoping ” 

“That’s my own lookout,” he said again. “If your 
friend is always at hand when you want him, surely he 
may be allowed to nurse his foolish hopes in private — 
provided that he never exhibits them?” 

“Very well, then,” said Mabel reluctantly. “But I 
don’t feel ” 

“ If I am satisfied, surely you may be ? ” 

The entrance of a servant to unbar the shutters dis- 
pensed with the need of an answer. Preoccupied as they 
had been during the last half-hour, neither Fitz nor Mabel 
had noticed that the dust had ceased to patter and the wind 
to howl. The storm was over, and once again there was 
daylight, although rain was descending in torrents. 

“Mab, the Commissioner was asking for you,” said 
Georgia, pausing as she passed the door. “He has 
finished his morning’s work, and wanted to know if you 
were ready for some Browning.” 

“Oh yes. I’ll go at once,” said Mabel, anxious only to 
escape from Fitz and the memory of their agitating con- 
versation. It had shaken her a good deal, she felt, and 
this made her angry with him. What right had he to 
disturb her so rudely, and make her feel guilty, when she 
had done nothing? It was vdth distinct relief that she 
met Mr Burgrave’s benignant smile, and returned his 
morning greeting. He did not appear to notice any per- 
turbation in her manner, and she took up the book, and 
turned hastily to the page where they had left off, while 
Mr Burgrave, pencil in hand, settled himself comfortably 
among his cushions, ready to call attention to any beauties 
she might miss in reading the lines. If he was like Fitz, 
in that his eyes were fixed on the fair head bent over the 
pages of “Pippa Passes,” he was unlike Fitz in that their 
gaze escaped unnoticed. 

“ ‘ You’ll love me yet ! — and I can marry — ’ ” read Mabel, 
totally unconscious of the havoc she was making of the 
poet’s words, but her auditor almost sprang from his 
couch. 

“ No, no ! ” he cried. “ I beg your pardon. Miss North, 


118 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


but the storm has shaken your nerves a little, hasn’t it ? 
Allow me,” and he took the book from her hands, and read 
the poem aloud in a voice so full of feeling that it went 
to Mabel’s heart. 

“‘You’ll love me yet ! — and I can tarry 
Your love’s protracted growing ; 

June reared that bunch of flowers you carry 
From seeds of April’s sowing. 

‘ I plant a heartful now ; some seed 
At least is sure to strike — * ” 

What malign influence had brought the reading to this 
point just now? Fitz might have used those very words. 
Involuntarily Mabel rose and stood at the edge of the 
verandah, looking out into the rain. Her eyes were fiUed 
with tears, but she stood with her back to Mr Burgrave, 
and he did not see them. He read on — 

“ ‘ And yield — what you’ll not pluck indeed, 

Not love, but, maybe, like, 

* You’ll look at least on love’s remains, 

A grave’s one violet ; 

Your look 7 — that pays a thousand pains. 

What’s death 7 You’ll love me yet I ’ ” 

Was the seed springing already? A tear splashed into 
the gritty dust that lay on the verandah-rail, and Mabel 
dashed her hand across her eyes in an agony of shame. 
Mr Burgrave must have seen ; what would he think ? But 
before she could even reach her handkerchief, the book was 
thrown down, and Mr Burgrave had seized his crutch, and 
was at her side. 

“ Mabel, my dear little girl ! ” he cried tenderly. 

“ Oh no, no ; not you ! ” she gasped, horror-stricken. 

“ And why not, dearest ? Forgive me for blundering so 
brutally. How could I guess that the seed I had dared to 
plant was blossoming already ? I have watched it growing 
slowly day by day, so slowly that I was often afraid it had 
not struck at all, and now, when it is actually in full flower, 
I pass by without seeing it, and bruise it in this heartless 
way. Forgive me, dear.” 

“ Indeed, indeed you are making a mistake ! ” cried Mabel, 


GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 119 

in a panic. “It really isn’t what you think, Mr Burgrave. 
I don’t care for you in that way at all.” 

“ My dear girl must allow me to be the judge of that. 
I can read your heart better than you can read it for 
yourself, dearest. Do you think I haven’t noticed how 
naturally you turn to me for refuge against trouble and 
unkindness ? It has touched me inexpressibly. Again and 
again you have sought sympathy from me, with the sweetest 
confidence.” 

“ It’s quite true ! ” groaned Mabel, seeing in a sudden 
mental vision aU the occasions to which Mr Burgrave 
alluded. 

“Of course it is, dear. You hadn’t realised how com- 
pletely you trusted me, had you ? Other people thought — 
no, I won’t teU you what they said — but I knew better. 
I was sure of you, you see.” 

“ What did other people say ? ” asked Mabel, with faint 
interest. 

“ Er — well, it was a lady in the neighbourhood.” Mabel’s 
thoughts flew to Mrs Hardy with natural apprehension. 
“She was good enough to warn me that you were — ^no, 
I will not say the word — that you were amusing yourself 
with me. She had noticed, naturally enough, how inevitably 
we drew together, but she ascribed your sweet trustfulness 
to such vile motives as could never enter your head. I said 
to her, ‘ Madam, to defend Miss North against your suspicions 
would be to insult her. In a short time, when you realise 
their baselessness, you will suffer as keenly as you deserve 
for having entertained them.’ I could trust my little girl, 
you see.” 

“ Oh, you make me ashamed ! ” cried Mabel, abashed by 
the perfect confidence with which this stern, self-sufficient 
man regarded her. “Oh, Mr Burgrave, do please believe 
I am not good enough for you. It makes me miserable to 
think how disappointed you will be.” 

“I should like to hear you call me Eustace,” said Mr 
Burgrave softly, unmoved by her protestations. It occurred 
to Mabel, with a dreadful sense of helplessness, that he 
regarded them only as deprecating properly the honour he 
proposed doing her. 

“Well — please — Eustace — ” But Mr Burgrave kissed 
her solemnly on the forehead, and she could stand no more. 


120 THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 

“ It’s too mucli ! I’ll come back presently,” she gasped, 
and succeeded in escaping. As she fled through the haU 
she met Georgia. 

“ Perhaps you’ll be interested to know that I’m engaged 
to Mr Burgrave, Georgie ! ” she cried hysterically, rushing 
into her own room and locking the door. 

“ That wretched man ! ” cried Georgia. “ After all Dr 
Tighe and I have done for his leg ! ” 

“ Didn’t know Tighe had any grievance against him about 
this,” grumbled Dick. He was sitting on the edge of 
the dressing-table, ruefully contemplating his boots, with 
his hands dug deep in his pockets. On ordinary occasions 
Georgia would have requested him, gently but firmly, to 
move, but now she was too much perturbed in mind to 
think of the furniture. Delayed in starting by the dust- 
storm, Dick had only returned from a hard day’s riding late 
at night, to find himself confronted on the threshold, so to 
speak, by the triumphant Commissioner, and requested to 
give him his sister. 

“ Oh, but he would be on our side, of course,” said Georgia. 
“ Dick, I do think it is horrid of Mr Burgrave to have pro- 
posed under present circumstances. It’s as if he wanted to 
rob us of everything — even of Mab.” 

“ No, he’s doing us an honour. He all but told me so. 
But he really is absolutely gone on Mab. His whole face 
changes when he speaks of her. Fact is, Georgie, if the 
man didn’t come rooting about on our very own frontier, 
I couldn’t help having a sneaking liking for him. His 
belief in his own greatness is perfectly sincere, and he 
cherishes no animosity against us for opposing his plans. 
He told me that he hoped political differences would make 
no break in our friendly intercourse — Hang it ! this thing’s 
giving way. Why in the world don’t you have stronger 
tables ? ” 

“Sit here,” said Georgia, pointing to the wicker sofa. 
“Well, Dick?” 

“Well? It’s coming, old girl, coming fast, and he’s 
mercifully trying to soften the blow to us.” 

Georgia looked round with a shiver. The shabby bunga- 
low with its makeshift furniture was the outward and 
visible sign of the life-work which she and her husband 


GAINING A LOVER AND KEEPING A FRIEND. 121 


had inherited from her father, and it was to be taken from 
them by the action of the man who hoped that his arbitrary 
decree would be no obstacle to their continuing to regard 
him as a friend. 

“ And what I think is,” Dick went on, “ that they had 
better be married as soon as possible, before Burgrave goes 
down to the river again, and the blow falls.” 

“But, Dick,” Georgia almost screamed, “you’re giving 
her no time to repent.” 

“Repent? I’m not proposing to kill her. Surely it 
would be better for her to be married from this house than 
from a Bombay hotel ? Besides, we should have no further 
anxiety about her ” 

“No further anxiety? Dick, if she marries him I shall 
never know another happy moment. She doesn’t care a 
straw for him — it’s a kind of fascination, that’s all, a sort 
of deadly terror. I can’t tell you what it’s been like all 
day. She couldn’t bear me to leave them alone a moment, 
and there was he beaming at her, and not seeing it a bit. 
He thinks it’s all right for her to be shy and tongue-tied, 
and not dare to meet his eye — the pompous idiot ! Mab 
shy — and with a man ! She’s miserable — in fear of her 
life.” 

“ No, no, Georgie, that’s a nttle too thick. Mab is not 
a school-girl, to let herself be coerced into an engagement, 
and it won’t do to stir her up to break it off. You mustn’t 
go and abuse him to her. Be satisfied with relieving your 
feelings to me.” 

“Now, Dick, is it likely? Am I the person to give her 
an extra reason for sticking to him ? If I abused him she 
would feel bound to defend him, and might even end by 
caring for him. I can’t pretend to congratulate her on her 
choice, but she shall have every facility for seeing as much 
of him as she can possibly want.” 

“ Vengeful creature ! ” 

“ No, that’s not it. I have no patience with her.” 

“Ah, she has proved you a false prophet, hasn’t she? 
That’s unpardonable.” 

“ She has done worse ; I’m perfectly convinced that she 
refused the right man before accepting the wrong one. 
And though she doesn’t deserve it, I think she ought to 
have time to get things put right, if she can.” 


122 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Very well. Then the deluge will come first, that^s all.” 

“ How soon do you expect it ? ” 

“Well, I gather from what the Commissioner says that 
his report is nearly drawn up. As it’s only a pretext for a 
predetermined move, they won’t take long to consider it. 
The decision will be intimated to me, and I shall submit 
my resignation in return.” 

“And then we shall fold our tents like the Arabs, and 
silently steal away 1 ” 

“ Not quite at once. We must stick on until they send 
up a man to replace me, and carry out the new policy. 
The worst of it will be that Ashraf Ali will know why I am 
resigning, and unless I can get him to keep quiet, he will 
think himself free to break the treaty before our side does. 
If Bahram Khan once gets to know what’s on hand, it’s all 
up, for nothing will persuade the Sardars that we are not 
repudiating the treaty as the first step to an invasion and 
the annexation of Nalapur, and he will be there to lead 
them, if the Amir won’t. I hope to goodness that Burgrave 
will have removed the light of his countenance from us be- 
fore then, but I suppose that’s sure to be all right. He 
would hardly like to look as if he was hounding his in- 
tended brother-in-law out of the province. Unfortunately 
it’s pretty certain that rumours of my impending departure 
will begin to get about in some mysterious manner as soon 
as his unfavourable report goes up, for his plans seem 
doomed to leak out into the bazaar. I’m inclined to think 
he has a spy about him somewhere. By-the-bye, Georgie, 
who is the sweetseller yqu’ve allowed to hang about the 
place lately ? ” 

“ I, Dick 1 He told me you had said he might come.” 

“Something fishy there, evidently. But he must have 
an accomplice inside.” 

“ One of the Commissioner’s Hindu clerks, perhaps.” 

“ Possibly. Well, we’ll deal with him to-morrow.” 


CHAPTER XL 


BEHIND THE CURTAISr. 

As soon as Dick awoke in the morning, his talk with 
Geor^a recurred to his mind, and looking out of his 
dressing-room window, he called to Ismail Bakhsh, whom 
he saw in the compound. From his long connection with 
the family, the old soldier was regarded as the head of the 
household staff. 

“ Has that sweetseller turned up yet, Ismail Bakhsh 1 ^ 

“No, sahib, I have not seen him this morning.” 

“Well, when he does, you can detain him. I want to 
ask him a question or two.” 

“ The thing is done, sahib. If the protector of the poor 
would listen to a word from this unworthy one ” 

“ Yes ; what is it 1 ” 

“ It was in my mind yesterday, sahib, to examine all the 
verandahs, lest the storm should have shaken the pillars, 
and in so doing I found that the work of the rats under the 
floors has been great and very evil.’ Surely there are many 
places in which the planks are loose and easy to be moved, 
but on this side of the house it is the worst. Before the 
Kumpsioner Sahib’s rooms a man might even squeeze himself 
in and hide under the verandah floor.” 

“ We shall never get rid of the rats until we have proper 
cement floors — and it’s no good thinking of that now,” 
added Dick, half to himself. “But are you sure there’s 
nothing worse than rats about, Ismail Bakhsh? I don’t 
like the idea of that hole.” 

“ I also suspected evil, sahib, but having sent two of the 
servants’ sons in with lights, I was content when they 
found nothing.” 

“I hope you nailed the boards firmly into their places?” 

“ I put them back, sahib, but why fasten them ? There 
was no man inside, and in case any should seek to enter, 

123 


124 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


the hole should be blocked up from within, not from 
without. Moreover, if the protector of the poor would 
invite Winlock Sahib to bring his sporting dog to the 
house, with your honour’s own dogs we might succeed in 
killing all the rats before mending the floors.” 

“ Good idea ! Ask the memsahib to give you a chit to 
Winlock Sahib. No ; it had better be to-morrow. I shall 
be out all to-day.” 

Ismail Bakhsh salaamed and departed, and Dick returned 
to his dressing, neither of them dreaming that they were 
separated by nothing but a half-inch plank from a man who 
had listened to the whole of their colloquy. The bungalow, 
which had never been intended for a permanent dwelling, 
had been run up in haste. Hence the contrast of its some- 
what ramshackle appearance with that of the substantial 
stone houses in the cantonments, and hence also the 
perpetual worry caused by the colonies of rats inhabiting 
the space under the floors, which should have been filled up 
with concrete. However, since innumerable complaints and 
remonstrances had brought nothing but vague promises and 
an occasional snub from those in authority, Dick and 
Georgia continued to live on in their unsatisfactory dwell- 
ing, and to wage intermittent warfare against the rats. 
But the rats could not fairly be accused of the worst of the 
damage of which Ismail Bakhsh complained, for crouched 
under the boards lay the sweetseUer, who had effected an 
entrance by sliding out one of the planks from the front of 
the verandah and pulling another aside, returning them to 
their places when he had crawled in. His dark face paled 
when Ismail Bakhsh suggested bringing the dogs, but when 
he heard Dick postpone the rat-hunt to the next day, he 
breathed freely again. 

“ To-day is all I want,” he said to himself. “ When I 
have once got the paper for Jehanara Bibi from that accursed 
half-blood my work is done, and N/i.th Sahib may set his 
dogs on my track as much as he likes — and his sowars 
too.” 

He remained crouched in his lair all morning, until the 
Commissioner had dismissed his clerks and hobbled round 
to the other side of the house to look for Mabel. As soon 
as the sound of his crutch had become inaudible in the 
distance, there was a hesitating tap on one of the loose 


BEHIND THE CURTAIN. 


125 


boards. It was answered by a bolder knock from below, 
the board was pushed slightly aside, and a yellow hand, 
trembling as if with ague, passed a roll of papers through 
the crack. The sweetseller seized it, and pressed the 
fingers of the transmitter, which were hurriedly withdrawn. 
The hidden man secreted the papers carefully in his cloth- 
ing, and crawled round to the front of the house, whence 
he could watch through a peep-hole all that went on in this 
part of the compound. When noon was come, and the 
servants had all betaken themselves to their own quarters, 
he removed the sliding plank and slipped out, bringing with 
him his stock in trade, and replaced the board carefully. 
Having assured himself that Dick was nowhere to be seen, 
he crossed the compound boldly, climbed the wall at a point 
where various projecting stones and convenient hollows 
afforded a foothold, and walked with dignified haste to 
the nearest sandhill. On the farther side of this he buried 
his tray and his sweets in the sand, and then, girding up 
his loins, set out resolutely in the direction of Dera Gul. 

Dusk had already fallen when he reached the fortress, 
where he received a respectful greeting from the ragged 
guards, who informed him that the chief was in his zenana. 
As soon as the news was brought that Narayan Singh had 
returned, however, Bahram Khan sent word that he should 
be admitted immediately — a high honour which was not 
seldom the reward of the indispensable spy. Committing 
himself to the guidance of one of the slave-boys, Narayan 
Singh passed behind the curtain and into the anteroom, 
to discover Bahram Khan reclining upon the divan in the 
easiest possible undress. The pleasant murmur of the 
hubble-bubble, as he approached, prepared the visitor to 
find the room full of smoke, and his master seemed at first 
too much engrossed with his pipe to notice his entrance. 
Cross-legged in the corner sat the Eurasian Jehanara, 
shrouded in her veil, her glittering eyes reflecting the faint 
light which was shed by a brazier of glowing charcoal. 

“ Peace, Narayan Singh ! ” said the Prince at last, taking 
the mouthpiece of the long leathern tube lazily from his 
lips. “ Is all well ? ” 

“ All is well. Highness. I have here a copy of the re- 
port of Barkaraf Sahib to the Sarkar, from the hands of 
his confidential clerk.” 


126 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


Jehanara laughed harshly. “ Thou hadst but little diffi- 
culty with Antonio D’Costa ? ” she said. 

“ What knowest thou of the swine ? ” asked Bahram Khan 
jealously. 

“ I have not seen him for many years, Highness, but he 
is my cousin, and I was acquainted with his character as 
a youth, and heard of his doings as a man. Knowing thy 
desire to learn the intentions of the Kumpsioner Sahib, 
and hearing that my cousin was in his employ, it needed 
only that I should instruct the skilful Narayan Singh to 
approach him in the right way.” 

“And I,” said Narayan Singh, “needed but to hold 
before his eyes the copies of the bonds I had obtained 
from certain money-lenders, and threaten to show them to 
Barkaraf Sahib, when he fell down on his knees before me, 
and was ready to do whatever I might desire, for fear of 
the ruin that threatened him.” 

“It is well,” growled Bahram Khan. “But what does 
the report say 1 ” 

Narayan Singh took out the papers which had been 
handed to him in his hiding-place, and laid them on the 
floor before Jehanara. She took them up, and leaning for- 
ward, scrutinised the contents eagerly by the dim light of 
the brazier. 

“In this report,” she said, with deep satisfaction, “which 
the Kumpsioner Sahib has just finished drawing up, he 
recommends the immediate withdrawal of the subsidy, and 
the recall of Beltring Sahib from Nalapur, on the ground 
that the treaty was merely a temporary arrangement, the 
necessity for which has passed away.” Bahram Kha n 
laughed, and she went on. “The Amir Sahib is to be 
assured of the continuous friendship and good-will of the 
Sarkar, which with the one hand will take away his rupees, 
and with the other present him with the liberty to govern 
his people without interference or guidance.” 

“ Truly the infidels are delivered into our hands ! ” cried 
Bahram Khan. “And when is the change to be announced 1 ” 

“ The Kumpsioner Sahib desires an order, which may be 
carried out by the political officer on the spot.” 

“ Then the fool himself is leaving the border ? Let him 
go. I care not to take his life. He has been a useful friend 
to me, and may be permitted to carry his folly elsewhere. 


BEHIND THE CURTAIN. 


127 


It is Nath Sahib that I want, and surely even my uncle 
wiU turn against him when he knows that the Sarkar has 
determined to break the treaty.” 

“Gently, Highness !” entreated Jehanara. “The Amir 
Sahib is ever faithful to his friends, and not easily turned 
from his allegiance. Such is his friendship for Nath Sahib 
that the only thing that would make him join in the plot 
would be the hope of benefiting him.” 

“But,” put in Narayan Singh, who had been wondering 
uncomfortably whether it would be better to tell his news 
at once, or to wait until he had managed to secure a 
moment’s private conversation with Jehanara. “I heard 
tidings yesterday. Highness, which seem to show that the 
Kumpsioner Sahib is not the friend thou didst reckon him. 
I could have told them sooner, but I fear they will not be 
pleasing in thine ears.” 

“ Let us hear them,” cried Bahram Khan, while Jehanara 
shot an angry glance at the spy. He ought to have known 
by this time that it was generally wiser to soften and 
sweeten agitating news, and not to administer it undiluted. 

“It was said among the servant-people that Barkaraf 
Sahib had asked Nath Sahib for his sister. Highness, and 
that even now he has betrothed her to him.” 

There was a moment’s incredulous silence, and then 
Bahram Khan sprang up from the divan, sending the heavy 
cut-glass bottle of the water-pipe flying, and almost over- 
turning the brazier. “And this is the fruit of your counsel, 
both of you ! ” he shouted. “ Who was it that held me 
back when I would have fallen on the whole company of 
the English as they returned from their fool’s dinner in the 
desert, and killed them all, except Nath Sahib’s sister? 
Who was it again that bade me suffer my servants to bo 
taken prisoners and held captive, and be tried for their 
lives by a boy, and that told me to rejoice when I received 
them back unharmed ? Thou, O woman ! thou, dog of an 
idolater ! Surely ye were in league with the Kumpsioner 
Sahib to steal the girl from me, and he has bribed you to 
blacken my face in the eyes of all my people.” 

“ Highness,” said Jehanara, with dignity, “ thine anger has 
made thee unjust to thy faithful servants. Fear not ; I 
know the ways of the English, and this betrothal need not 
lead to marriage for many months. Nath Sahib’s sister 


128 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


shall yet bo thine, and the Kumpsioner Sahib may wait in 
vain for his bride.” 

“ Wait ! ” cried Bahram Khan, sinking again upon his 
cushions, “ nay, he shall wait for nothing but death. He 
shall die by inches, and before my eyes, because he has 
sought to befool me. If he escapes, the lives of both of you 
shall pay for it.” 

“ As thou wilt. Highness. But was it not thy admiration 
of her beauty which first showed the Kumpsioner Sahib 
that the girl was fair 1 Suffer thy servant to consider the 
matter for a moment, -and she will offer thee her counsel.” 

Leaving Bahram Khan to look at affairs in this new light, 
Jehanara established herself again in her corner, gazing 
fixedly into the hot coals. Both her life and that of 
Narayan Singh were at stake, and she knew it ; and she had 
no desire to die. Six years before she had played a des- 
perate game with Bahram Khan, conscious that in him she 
faced an opponent as cunning and as faithless as herseK. 
The conditions were unequal, for she staked far more than 
he did, and he won, possibly because her sense of the risk 
she was running had robbed her of the perfect coolness 
necessary to ensure success. He had not married her, even 
by Mohammedan rites, and nothing short of full legal re- 
cognition could have vindicated in the eyes of her own 
people the course she had pursued. Robbed of her antici- 
pated triumph, she made no attempt to escape the con- 
sequences, but set herself by every means in her power to 
obtain that ascendency over the Prince’s mind which she 
had failed to gain over his heart. Fresh failures and 
unspeakable mortifications had awaited her. The women 
of the household, from the beautiful little Ethiopian bride 
to whom was awarded the position Jehanara had intended 
for herself, to the humblest hill-girl who had been kidnapped 
to become at once a slave and a Muslimeh, saw to it that 
she ate the bread of bitterness ; but in spite of taunts and 
revilings she kept the one end in view until her persistence 
was crowned vlth complete success. Bahram Khan would 
listen to no advice but hers, having learnt by experience 
that his confidence in her was justified. The intrigue by 
which first the Commissioner, and then the Viceroy, had 
been convinced of his wrongs, was of her devising, and had 
proved so successful as to convince her that had it not been 


BEHIND THE CURTAIN. 


129 


for Dick’s opposition, she would already have seen Bahram 
Khan established as his uncle’s heir. It followed that her 
hatred for Dick, heightened by his cavalier treatment of 
herself, was at least as strong as that of the disappointed 
claimant. As she sat brooding over the charcoal at this 
moment, there was a cruel light in her eyes while she ran 
hastily over the points of the scheme which had sprung full- 
grown into her mind when Bahram Khan accused her of 
treachery. 

“ Highness,” she said at last, and Bahram Khan propped 
himself up on his cushions with a muttered growl, while the 
trembling Narayan Singh appeared to take fresh interest in 
life, “ this perfidy of the Kumpsioner Sahib’s provides thee 
with what was most needed, a means of involving the Amir 
Sahib in our plans. Nay, through this treachery, with the 
blessing of Heaven, thy servants will yet behold thee seated 
upon his throne, with the sanction of the Sarkar.” 

“ Wonderful ! ” cried the Prince, with gleaming eyes. 
“ Go on.” 

“First of all, then. Highness, the Kumpsioner Sahib 
must not leave Alibad before the treaty is broken — but 
we will consider presently by what means he may be in- 
duced to remain on the border. Next, instructions must be 
sent to the Vizier Bam Singh to represent thy quarrel to 
his master, the Amir Sahib, in this wise. Thou wilt say 
that the Kumpsioner Sahib, with a great show of friendliness, 
promised to get thee Nath Sahib’s sister for a vsdfe, but 
that he has befooled thee, and demanded the maiden for 
himself. Thine uncle may not altogether believe that 
Barkaraf Sahib really offered thee his help in the matter ” — 
the half-caste could not restrain a touch of scorn as she 
glanced through her eyelashes at the miserable native who 
had brought himself to believe that an Englishman looked 
favourably on his desire to marry an Englishwoman. “ Still, 
he has doubtless heard through his sister, thy mother, of 
thy love for the girl, and he will soon hear also that she 
is betrothed to the Kumpsioner Sahib, so that he cannot 
but believe in the enmity between him and thee. Next 
thou wilt say that by setting spies on this enemy of thine 
thou hast learnt that he has persuaded the Sarkar to with- 
draw the subsidy. This he does in order to gain honour for 
himself by annexing the Nalapur state, and also that he 

I 


130 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


may overthrow Nath Sahib, whom thine uncle loves, and 
who, as we know through Earn Singh, has sworn to resign 
his office rather than forsake his friend. Thus, then, thine 
uncle will be eager to champion Nath Sahib’s cause against 
Barkaraf Sahib, and thou, forgetting thine old hatred in the 
new, will show him the way. According to the words of 
this paper of my cousin’s, the Sarkar’s change of policy will 
be announced at a durbar to be held by Nath Sahib in the 
Agency at Nalapur, and the Amir Sahib will do well to see 
to it that this durbar is not held. If we devise a means 
for keeping the Kumpsioner Sahib here, he must needs hold 
the durbar himself, and while he and Nath Sahib, and all 
the sahibs from Alibad, are entangled in the mountains on 
the way to the city, they must be caught in an ambush of 
the Amir Sahib’s troops. The Kumpsioner Sahib may well 
be killed in the first onset, to save all further trouble, but 
Nath Sahib and the other friends of thine uncle need only 
be disarmed and kept prisoners, the writing of the Sarkar 
being taken from them. Then the Amir Sahib may send a 
peaceful message to the Sarkar that, hearing rumours of 
evil intended against him, he has seized a number of its 
officers and holds them as hostages, until he shall be assured 
that his fears are groundless. So then the Sarkar, fear- 
ing for the lives of its sahibs, will send some great person 
to reassure his Highness, and explain that it was the evil 
doings of the dead Barkaraf Sahib alone that caused the 
mischief, and Nath Sahib will be put in his place, and the 
subsidy continued, and all be well — save, perhaps, the pay- 
ment of a slight fine for the accidental slaying of the Kump- 
sioner Sahib.” 

“But what is the good of aU this to me?” bellowed 
Bahram Khan. “It would rid me of the Kumpsioner 
Sahib, but no more — nay, it makes Nath Sahib the head 
where he is now the tail.” 

“ Seest thou not. Highness, that this is the plot as it 
must appear in the eyes of thine uncle ? Now lift the veil, 
and behold it as it is in thine own mind. Who should natu- 
rally be chosen to command the force l3dng in ambush but 
the Sardar Abd-ul-Nabi, and is he not a close friend of the 
Vizier Bam Singh, and wholly devoted to thy cause ? To 
him the Amir Sahib will give orders that he is to slay no 
one but Barkaraf Sahib, and that the lives of the rest are 


BEHIND THE CUETAIN. 


131 


to be saved, even at the risk of his own, but from thee he 
will receive the command to slay all and spare none, not even 
the youngest.” 

“Nay, I will ride with them, and smite them myself from 
behind ! ” cried Bahram Khan. 

“ That must not be. Highness. Thou wilt be far away at 
the time.” 

“ Then Nath Sahib and Barkaraf Sahib shall be saved 
alive and brought to me that I may see them die.” 

“ The risk is too great. Highness. Hast thou forgotten 
the day when Sinjaj Kilin Sahib was attacked in a certain 
nullah and all his escort slain, and how he fought his way 
out alone and rode back to his camp, and returning, as if 
upon eagles’ wings, with a fresh body of troops, fell upon 
the tribesmen when they were stripping the dea^ and slew 
them everyone? Not a man shall live — be content with 
that, for there is other work for thee than watching their 
blood flow.” 

“ And what is that, woman ? ” 

“ Thou wilt be waiting here. Highness, and as soon as a 
swift messenger brings thee word that the sahibs have been 
attacked, thou wilt ride with all speed to Alibad. Knowing 
that all the sahibs are away except the Padri and two or 
three others who are not warriors, and that there is no 
place of refuge for them, thou wilt hasten thither to save 
them and the'Memsahibs. If they believe in thy professions 
of friendship, then all is well — they are delivered into our 
hands. But it is in my mind that they wiU not trust thee, 
and that is even better, for then all the evil that follows 
will spring from their own lack of confidence. The men of 
the regiment who are left behind wiU fortify themselves in 
their lines, but there is no need to attack them just then. 
The bazaar and the European houses will be fired — by the 
badTnashes of the place, doubtless — and in the turmoil and 
confusion all the sahibs will be killed, but aU men will 
behold thee rushing hither and thither like one possessed, 
commanding thy soldiers with curses to save the white men 
alive.” 

Bahram Khan chuckled grimly, for the picture appealed 
to him. 

“And at last,” went on Jehanara, “seeing that thou 
canst do nothing, so few” are thy men, thou wilt retire 


132 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


sorrowfully, taking with thee such women and loot as may 
come in thy way — but only for safe keeping.” Bahram 
Khan chuckled again. “The next day, when the Amir 
Sahib learns that he has indeed raised lus hand against the 
Sarkar, and slain so many sahibs, he will be plunged in 
despair. He will find it impossible to keep his army in 
check, and they will come to Alibad and complete the work 
begun by thee, before ravaging the rest of the frontier. All 
will be the deed of thine uncle, and he it is that will have 
to answer to the Sarkar.” 

“ True, O woman. Trust me to see that his evil deeds 
shall blot out mine. But how if Nath Sahib’s sister should 
chance to be slain also ? ” 

“Her safety is thy care. Highness. Before seeking to 
save the sahibs, thou wilt have seized Nath Sahib’s house, 
which is on the outskirts of the town, and sent off his wife 
and sister here, for their better protection, under a sufficient 
guard.” 

“Who will see that Nath Sahib’s Mem troubles us no 
more,” laughed Bahram Khan. 

“Not so. Highness. The doctor lady must find safety 
with the Moti-ul-Nissa.” 

“Nay, is she not Nath Sahib’s wife?” cried Bahram 
Khan, much injured. 

“ There must be sanctuary for the doctor lady with thy 
mother,” repeated Jehanara firmly. “What harm can she 
do thee. Highness?” 

“ She is Sinjaj Kilin’s daughter. That is enough.” 

“ True, Highness, and for that very reason she must live. 
The Begum must be warned to hide her in the inmost 
recesses of the zenana, since the Amir Sahib clamours for 
her blood, and she herself must clearly understand that 
thou art protecting her at the risk of thy life. See here. 
Highness, and think not it is any love for thy foes that 
moves me. Her testimony is the very crowning-point of 
our plan. When thou hast made thyself master in Nalapur, 
and goest forth to meet the armies of the Empress with the 
head of the Amir Sahib as a peace-offering, there will yet 
be voices raised against thee. But when it is known that 
thou didst save the doctor lady, the wife and daughter of 
thine own and thy father’s enemies, and place her in safety 
in thine own zenana, who shall judge thee too hardly that 


BEHIND THE CURTAIN. 


133 


thou couldst not save the town? Thou hast done all in 
thy power, and the Memsahib will bear witness to thee. 
And as for sparing her — why, there is Nath Sahib’s sister 
left for thee still.” 

“ Aha ! ” laughed Bahram Khan, “ and she is not of Sinjaj 
Kilin’s blood. She will not fight like the doctor lady.” 

“Nay, but she is of Nath Sahib’s blood,” said Jehanara, 
conscious once more of an inconsistent tlmill of perverted 
pride in her father’s race, as she remembered what other 
Englishwomen had done before in like circumstances ; “ but 
all will be well. Highness, whatever happens. If she is 
found married to thee, she cannot, as a pardah woman, ^be 
brought into court to testify against thee, and if she is dead 
by that time, why, she killed herself in her terror, not 
waiting to learn thy merciful intentions towards her. And 
women pass, but the throne lasts, Highness. The one is 
better than the other.” 

“ Truly, thou art a veritable Shaitan ! ” To Bahram 
Khan’s mind the epithet conveyed a high compliment. 
“Set the matter in train, then. Here is my seal.” He 
took off his heavy signet and handed it to her. “ Do 
thou and Narayan Singh see that all is in order, so 
that not one of my enemies may escape. But what of 
Barkaraf Sahib? If he leaves the border, I lose half my 
vengeance.” 

“ It may be. Highness ” — the speaker was Narayan Singh, 
who had remained silent in sheer astonishment at the daring 
and resourcefulness of his co-plotter — “ that the Hasrat Ali 
Begum might help us in the matter. If her Highness were 
to hear that any evil threatened the doctor lady or her 
husband, she would doubtless send a messenger to warn 
her. Might she not become aware, through some in- 
discretion” (he looked across at Jehanara), “that the 
Kumpsioner Sahib was departing from the border to seek 
his own safety, leaving Nath Sahib to carry out a dangerous 
and disagreeable task ? Her Highness would send the Eye- 
of-the-Begum immediately to inform the doctor lady of what 
she had heard, and does there live a woman upon earth who, 
having received such tidings, would not at once fling the 
Kumpsioner Sahib’s cowardice in his teeth, and taunt him 
until he was forced for very shame to remain and do hifi 
business for himself ? ” 


134 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“By that saying,” interrupted Jehanara, vexed at being 
selected to perpetrate an indiscretion, “ thou betrayest thine 
ignorance, Narayan Singh. There is such a woman, and 
the doctor lady is she. She would tell the news to her 
husband, and leave him to reproach the Kumpsioner Sahib 
if he thought fit, and there would be no taunts, for the 
English are not wont to speak like the bazaar folk. But 
there is another woman who would work for us, though 
ignorantly, and that is the wife of the Padri Sahib.” 

“ The lady of the angry tongue ! ” cried Bahram Khan. 
“ But how should we persuade my mother to send a slave 
to her?” 

“ It would not be easy. Highness, and therefore the Begum 
shall not be troubled in the matter. I will disguise myself 
and tell the Padri’s Mem that her Highness, desiring to 
warn the doctor lady, was too closely watched to allow 
of her sending her usual messenger. I will say also that 
I succeeded in slipping away from Dera Gul, and in crossing 
the desert with the message, but that I dared not approach 
Nath Sahib’s house, fearing there might be spies among his 
servants. Thus, then, I will teU the news, and before very 
long the Padri’s Mem will teU it also — in the ears of the 
Kumpsioner Sahib.” 

“ It is well thought of,” said Bahram Kham approvingly. 


CHAPTER XII. 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 

Three or four days later, Mrs Hardy marched up the 
steps of the Norths’ bungalow with a purposeful mien, and 
requested an interview with the Commissioner. Mr Burgrave 
had finished his morning’s work early, and his couch had 
been placed in the drawing-room verandah. A table was 
close beside him, with a volume of Browning lying upon it, 
and there was a chair close at hand ready for Mabel, but 
she was out riding with Fitz, to whom Dick, in utter 
oblivion of the probable awkwardness of the situation, had 
hastily turned her over on finding that he himseK was 
needed elsewhere. The Commissioner groaned impatiently 
when Mrs Hardy was announced. A talk with her was not 
the pleasure he had in view when he hurried through his 
work, but he consoled himself with the thought that she 
would not stay long. No doubt the Padri was anxious 
to get a new harmonium, or to enlarge the church, and they 
wanted him to head the subscription-list. 

“Excuse my getting up,” he said, as he shook hands 
with her. “My sapient boy has put my crutch just out 
of reach.” 

If the Words were intended to convey a hint, Mrs Hardy 
did not choose to take it, for she sat down deliberately 
between the crutch and its owner. Then, without any 
attempt at leading up to the subject, she said, with great 
distinctness — 

“I have come to talk to you about your policy, Mr 
Burgrave.” 

The Commissioner stared at her in undisguised astonish- 
ment. “ Pardon me ; but that is a subject I do not discuss 
with — with outsiders,” he said. 

“I only want to lay a few facts before you,” pursued 
Mrs Hardy unmoved. 


135 


136 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“No, no; excuse me. I cannot consent to discuss affairs 
of state with a lady.” 

“ I mean you to listen to what I have to say, Mr Bur- 
grave, and I shall stay here until you do.” 

“I can’t run away,” said Mr Burgrave, with the best 
smile he could muster, and a side glance at the crutch; 
“ and when a lady is kind enough to come and talk to me, 
it would be rude to stop my ears. Perhaps you will be so 
good as to let me know your views at once, then, that your 
valuable time may not be wasted ? ” 

“ I should like to ask you, first of all, whether you are 
aware that your confidential report to the Government on 
the frontier question is common property at Dera Gul ? Of 
course, if you choose to tell your secrets to Bahram Khan 
and leave Major North in ignorance of them, I have nothing 
more to say.” 

To her great joy, Mrs Hardy perceived that she had made 
an impression. The Commissioner looked startled and dis- 
turbed. “ Impossible ! ” he said. “ The report has been 
seen by no one but my secretary, and the clerks who copied 
portions of it.” 

“ It is for you to find out which is to blame. I can only 
tell you what is going on, just as it has been told to me. 
I was in my garden about an hour ago, when a woman 
peeped out from behind the bushes — a miserable, footsore 
creature. She told me she was a slave of the Hasrat Ali 
Begum’s — Bahram Khan’s mother — ^who had sent her to 
warn the Norths that you intend to withdraw the Nalapur 
subsidy, and leave Major North to face the result. I have 
no idea how Bahram Khan obtained the information, but 
he means to take advantage of it. Though she could not 
tell me what his plan is exactly, she seemed quite sure that 
it would end in a general rising, involving almost certain 
death to the Europeans in places like this. It was clear 
that she regarded you as a coward, running away from the 
consequences of your own acts, and deliberately exposing 
others to danger. That is not my opinion, I may say ” — 
Mrs Hardy had seen the Commissioner wince — “but I thought 
you could not have looked at things in this light, and as 
soon as the poor creature was gone I came to you at once.” 

“Confiding in Mrs North by the way, no doubt?” 

“ No, I came straight to you. Now let me ask you, have 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


137 


you realised what will be the result of your action ? You 
know that Major North will resign rather than countenance 
what we all feel would be a gross breach of faith, and yet 
you place him in a position in which he must do one thing 
or the other. I don’t know what Miss North will think 
about it, but I know what I ” 

“We will leave Miss North’s name out of the conversa- 
tion, if you please.” 

“ Excuse me ; we can’t. How do you expect her to feel 
towards you when you have set yourself deliberately to ruin 
her brother 'I You think worse of her than I do if you 
believe she will marry you after such a piece of cruel, un- 
provoked oppression.” 

“ Mrs Hardy, a lady is privileged ” 

“Yes, I have no doubt you think I am taking an out- 
rageous liberty, but I can’t and won’t be silent. All your 
interest in the frontier centres in a pretty, flighty girl who 
has no business to be here at all, and simply for the sake of 
showing your power you come and ride roughshod over us, 
whose lives are bound up in it. I know you’re a proud 
man, Mr Burgrave, and I don’t ask you to reverse your 
policy publicly, which you would naturally find a hard 
thing to do. But if this dreadful business has gone too far 
to be stopped, make Major North take a month’s leave, and 
carry it through yourself. Then the people will see that he 
is not responsible for the breach of faith, and he will come 
back and be your right hand when you most need him. 
What good could a stranger do when the tribes are out? 
Absolute ignorance of the country is not always the qualifi- 
cation it was in your case, you know. I know the frontier 
better than any other place in the world — we used to 
itinerate in the district for years before we were allowed to 
settle down — and I am certain there’s trouble coming. I 
can see it in the looks of the people, and hear it in the way 
they talk. And here on the spot are the Norths, the very 
people to deal with a crisis, and you have done your best to 
undermine their influence already. Can’t you stop there % 
What have they done that you should persecute them like 
this?” 

“ I assure you,” said Mr Burgrave slowly, “ that I have 
the highest possible respect for both Major and Mrs North 
personally, but personality is not policy.” 


138 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Up here it very often is. But come, Mr Burgrave, if 
you don’t absolutely hate the Norths, why not do as I 
suggest ? ” 

“I promise you that every suggestion you have made 
shall receive the fullest consideration,” replied the Com- 
missioner, in his best Secretarial manner. “ I may rely upon 
your silence as to the matter ? ” 

Mrs Hardy thought she detected a relenting in his tone. 
“ Of course you may, if you are really going to do some- 
thing. I am glad to find you open to conviction, if only 
for Miss North’s sake and your own. You will have a very 
pretty wife, and I trust a happy one. Ah, there she is ! ” 
as the sound of horses’ feet was heard, and Mabel, cantering 
past, waved her whip gaily to the watchers — “and riding 
with Mr Anstruther ! ” 

“And is there any reason why she should not ride with 
Mr Anstruther ? ” 

“ His peace of mind, that’s all. But perhaps you think 
he deserves no mercy ? I may tell you I was glad to hear 
of your engagement, since it saved that fine young fellow 
for a more suitable woman.” 

“A more fortunate woman, doubtless,” corrected Mr 
Burgrave, with majestic forbearance. “A better there 
cannot be.” 

Mabel was in the highest spirits as she mounted the 
steps after Fitz had ridden away. When he had appeared 
with the message that Dick was detained at the office, and 
had sent him to ride with her, her first impulse was to 
refuse to go, but other counsels prevailed. Fitz had offered 
no congratulations on her engagement, and the omission 
rankled in her mind. She was nourishing a reckless deter- 
mination to provoke a scene by asking him what he meant 
by it, but her courage oozed away very soon after starting. 
She would still have given much to know what he thought 
of the whole situation, but she durst not venture upon an 
inquiry. Fitz, on his part, made no allusion to the import- 
ant event which had occurred since their last ride, speaking 
of the Commissioner as coolly as if she had no particular 
interest in him. Before they had been out long, she was 
content to accept his ruling, and conscious of a kind of 
horror in looking back upon the resolution with which she 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


139 


had started. She was on good terms with herself once 
more, and to such an extent did the gloom cast by Mr 
Burgrave’s impressive personality seem to be lightened at 
this distance, that she returned home feeling positively 
friendly towards him. It was unfortunate that Mrs 
Hardy’s disapproving glance, when she encountered her on 
the steps, should clash vdth this new mood of cheerfulness, 
and that another shock should be awaiting her when she 
looked into the drawing-room verandah on her way to take 
off her habit. 

“Little girl,” said her lover, holding out his hand to 
draw her nearer him, “ would you mind very much if I said 
I had rather you didn’t take these solitary rides with young 
Anstruther ? ” 

The angry crimson leaped up into Mabel’s forehead. 

“You have no right whatever to make such insinuations ! ” 
she cried hotly. 

“Now, dearest, you mistake me. I make no insinuations 
— I should not dream of such a thing. All I say is — 
doesn’t it seem more suitable to you, yourself, that until I 
am able to ride with you again you should not go out 
except with your brother? You will do me the justice to 
believe that I am not jealous — I would not insult you by 
such a feeling — but other people will talk. Yes, I am 
jealous — for my little girl, not of her. No one must have 
the chance even of passing a remark upon her.” 

Mabel stood playing with her whip, her face flushed and 
her lips pressed closely together. “ He would like to make 
life a prison for me, with himself as jailer ! ” she thought, 
as she bent the lash to meet the handle, making no attempt 
to listen to Mr Burgrave, who went on to speak of the high 
position his wife would occupy, of the extreme circumspec- 
tion necessary in such a station, and of the unfortunate love 
of scandal characterising the higher circles of Indian female 
officialdom. He did not actually say that the future Mrs 
Burgrave must be above suspicion, but this was the general 
idea underl3dng his remarks. 

“ Why, you have broken your whip ! ” The words reached 
her ears at last. “ Never mind, you shall have the best in 
Bombay as soon as it can come up here. You see what I 
mean, little girl, don’t you ? ” 

“Oh yes,” said Mabel drearily. “You forbid me ever to 


140 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


ride with any one but you, or to speak to a man under 
seventy.” 

“ Mabel ! ” he cried, deeply hurt, “ can you really mis 
judge me so cruelly ? ” 

“ It’s not that,” she said, kneeling down beside him with 
a sudden burst of frankness. “ I know how fond you are 
of me, and I can’t tell you how grateful and ashamed it 
makes me. But you don’t understand things. You want 
to treat me like a baby, and I have been grown-up a long, 
long time. Think what I have gone through since I came 
here, even.” 

“ I know, I know ! ” he said hoarsely. “ Don’t speak of 
it, my dearest ! The thought of that evening in the nullah 
comes upon me sometimes at night, and turns me into an 
abject coward. I mean to take you away where you wiU 
be safe, and have no anxieties.” 

“ Then have you never any anxieties ? Because they will 
be mine.” 

“ No,” he said, with something of sternness, “my anxieties 
shaU never touch my wife. I want to shake off my worries 
when I leave the office, and come home to find you in a 
perfect house, with everything round you perfectly in keep- 
ing, the very embodiment of rest and peace, sitting there in 
a perfect gown, long and soft and flowing, for me to feast 
my eyes upon.” 

He lingered lovingly over the contemplation of this ideal 
picture, to the details of which Mabel listened with a cold 
shudder. “ My dear Eustace,” she said brusquely, to hide 
her dismay, “ please tell me how you think the house and 
the servants are to be kept perfect, if I do nothing but 
trail round and strike attitudes in a tea-gown?” She 
caught his wounded look, and went on hastily, “ And what 
did you mean by that invidious glance you cast at my 
habit ? I won’t have my things sniffed at.” 

“It’s so horribly plain,” pleaded the culprit. 

“And why not?” demanded Mabel, touched in her 
tenderest point. “I’m sure it’s most workmanlike.” 

“ That’s just it. Workmanlike — detestable ! Why should 
a woman want to wear workmanlike clothes ? All her things 
ought to be like that gown you wore at the Gymkhana, 
looking as if a touch would spoil them.” 

“ I shall remind you of this in future, you absurd man 1 ” 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


141 


laughed Mabel, regaining her cheerfulness as she thought 
she saw a way of establishing her point ; “ but please re- 
member, once for all, that I shall choose my clothes myself 
— and they will be suitable for various occasions, for busi- 
ness as well as pleasure. Your part will only be to admire, 
and to pay.” There was a seriousness in her tone which 
belied the jesting words. Surely he would understand, he 
must understand, that there was a principle at stake. 

“And that part will be punctually performed,” said Mr 
Burgrave indulgently, gazing in admiration into her ani- 
mated face. “ I know that you will remember my foolish 
prejudices, and gratify them to the utmost extent of my 
desires, if not of my purse. That is all I ask of you — to 
be always beautiful.” 

In her bitter disappointment Mabel could have burst 
into tears. 

“ Oh, you won’t understand ! you won’t understand ! ” 
she cried. “I don’t want piles of clothes; I don’t want 
everything softened and shaded down for me. I want to 
be a helpmate to my husband, as Georgia is to Dick.” 

“ Dear child, I am sorry you have returned to this sub- 
ject,” said Mr Burgrave, taken aback. “I thought we had 
threshed it out fuUy long ago.” 

“Ah, but we can speak more freely now!” she cried. 
“Don’t you see that I should hate to be stuck up on a 
pedestal for you to look at, or to be a kind of pet, that you 
might amuse yourself smilingly with my foolish little in- 
terests out of office hours 1 I want you to tell me things, 
and let us talk them over together, as Dick and Georgia 
do.” 

“I know they do,” said Mr Burgrave, trying to smile. 
“ The walls here are so thin that I hear them at it every 
evening. A prolonged growl is your brother soliloquising, 
and a brief interlude of higher tones is Mrs North giving 
her opinion of affairs. It is a little embarrassing for me, 
knowing as I do that my doings are almost certainly the 
subject of the conversation.” 

“ Well, and if they are 1 ” cried Mabel. “ It is only be- 
cause you and Dick don’t understand one another that he 
and Georgia criticise you. Now think about this very 
matter of the frontier. If you would only talk to me, 
pud tell me vhnt you thought was the proper thing to be 


142 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


done, I could talk to them, and you might find out that 
your views were not so much opposed after all. Do try, 
please ; oh, do ! I would give anything to bring you to an 
agreement.” 

Mr Burgrave’s brow was clouded as he looked into her 
eager eyes. 

“ Am I to understand,” he said, with dreadful distinct- 
ness, “ that your brother and Mrs North are trying to make 
use of you to extract information from me No, I will not 
suspect your brother. No man would stoop to employ such 
an exponent — so degrading to my future wife, so affronting 
to myself. It is Mrs North’s doing.” 

Mabel, who had listened in horrified silence, sprang to 
her feet at this point as if stung. “ I think it will be as 
well for me to return you this,” she said, laying upon the 
table the ring of “finest Europe make,” which the Com- 
missioner had been fain to purchase from the chief jeweller 
in the bazaar as a makeshift until the diamond hoop for 
which he had sent to Bombay could arrive. “You have 
grossly insulted both Georgia and me, and — and I never wish 
to speak to you again.” 

She meant to sweep impressively from the room, but the 
angry tears that filled her eyes made her blunder against 
the table, and Mr Burgrave, raising himself with a wild 
effort, caught her hand. “ Mabel, come here,” he said, and 
furious with herself for yielding, she obeyed. “Give me 
that ring, please.” He restored it solemnly to its place on 
her finger. “ Now we are on speaking terms again. Dear 
little girl, forgive me. I was wrong, unpardonably wrong, 
but I never thought your generous little heart would lead 
you so far in opposing my expressed wish. I admire the 
impulse, my darling, but when you come to know me better 
you will understand how unlikely it is that I should 3deld 
to it. Come, dear, look sunny again, or must I make a 
heroic attempt to go down on my knees with one leg in 
splints 1 ” 

“ Oh, if you would only understand ! ” sighed Mabel. 
She was kneeling beside him again, occupying quite unde- 
servedly, as she felt, the position of suppHant. “ If only I 
could make you see ” 

“ See what 1 ” he asked, taking her face in his hands and 
kissing it. “I see that my little girl thinks me an old 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


143 

brute. Won’t she believe me if I assure her on my honour 
that I am trying to do the best I can for her brother, and 
that I hope I have found a way of putting things right ? ” 

“ Have you, really 1 ” Her bright smile was a sufficient 
reward. “ Oh, Eustace, if it’s all settled happily, I shall 
love you for ever ! ” 

The assurance did not seem to promise much that was 
new when the relative position of those concerned was con- 
sidered, but the unsolicited kiss bestowed upon him was 
very grateful to Mr Burgrave, and he smiled kindly as he 
released Mabel and bade her run away and change her 
habit. She left the room gaily enough, but once outside, a 
sudden wave of recollection swept over her, and she wrung 
her hands wildly. 

“ I was free — free / ” she cried to herself. “ Just for a 
moment I was free, and I let him fetch me back. Oh, 
what can I do ? I believe I could be quite fond of him if 
he would let me, but he won’t. And if he wasn’t so good I 
should delight to break it off in the most insulting way 
possible, but his virtues are the worst thing about him. I 
hate them ! Is this sort of thing to go on for a whole life- 
time — beating against a stone wall and bruising my hands, 
and then being kissed and given a sweet, and told not to 
cry ? Mabel Louisa North, you are a silly fool, ‘and you 
deserve just what you have got. I hate and despise you, 
and with my latest breath I shall say, Serve you right ! ” 

“ Oh, Dick, has it come 1 ” Georgia sprang up to meet her 
husband, as he entered the room with a gloomy face. 

“ No, but so far as I can see, it’s close at hand. I can’t 
quite make things out, but Burgrave seems to have altered 
his plans astonishingly. Instead of travelling down to the 
coast at once, he is going to stay here another week, and 
hold a durbar at Nalapur. I have to send word to Beltring 
at once to get the big shamiana put up in the Agency 
grounds, and to see that all the Sardars have notice. What 
does it mean ? ” 

“He’s going to see the thing through on his own 
account,” said Georgia, with conviction. “ But it will make 
no difference to us, will it, Dick ? ” 

“ Rather not ! The breach of faith is the same, whether 
I announce it at first, or merely come in afterwards to carry 


144 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


it out. I wish Burgrave hadn’t such a mania for mysteries. 
Ismail Bakhsh tells me he has been sending off official 
telegrams at a tremendous rate all day, and yet when I 
ventured to hint that some idea of the proposed proceedings 
at the durbar would be interesting, he turned rusty at once, 
and said he had not received his instructions. TMs system 
of government by thunderbolt doesn’t suit me. It’s enough 
to make a man chuck things up now, without waiting for 
the final blow. 

“Oh, but you wiU stick on as long as you can? It’s 
some sort of security for peace.” 

“A wretchedly shaky one, then,” said Dick, with an 
angry laugh. “ Here’s the Amir sending his mullah Aziz-ud- 
Din to say that he learns on incontestable authority that the 
subsidy is to be withdrawn, and imploring me to say 
whether I have any hand in it. The poor old fellow’s faith 
in me is quite touching, but what could I say except that I 
knew nothing about it, and repeat the assurance I gave 
him before ? ” 

“But what could Ashraf Ali mean by incontestable 
authority ? ” 

“ How can I tell ? Some spy, I suppose. By the way, 
though, it didn’t strike me. That must be what the 
Commissioner meant ! ” 

“ Why, what did he say ? ” 

“ He doesn’t intend to stay on in this house. Now that 
he can be got into a cart, he thinks it better to return to 
his hired bungalow. I imagine I looked a bit waxy, for he 
graciously explained that he had reason to believe we have 
spies among the servants here.” 

“Dick! you don’t mean to say that he accused 
you 1 ” 

“No, he was so good as to assure me that he had the 
best possible means of knowing I had nothing to do with 
it. But when I reminded him that aU the servants, except 
those Mab brought with her from Bombay, have been with 
us for years, he intimated that he made no accusations, but 
official matters had got out, and he didn’t mean to allow 
that sort of thing to go on. No doubt it was that sweet- 
seller fellow, as we thought.” 

“Well, I think that to go is the best thing the 
Commissioner can do. It will give Mab a little peace.” 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


145 


“Yes, I shouldn’t say she looked exactly festive.” 

“ How could she ? She feels that she has cut herself off 
from us, for of course we can’t discuss things before her as 
we used to do, and I don’t think she finds that he makes 
up for it. I have great hopes.” 

“Now, no coming between them !” said Dick warningly, 
and Georgia laughed. 

“ I trust it won’t be necessary,” she said. 

A week later she happened to be again sitting alone in 
the drawing-room, busy with the fine white work on which 
she expended so many hours and such loving care at this 
time, when Dick came in. To her astonishment, he was in 
uniform, and laid his sword upon the table by the door as 
he entered. 

“Why, Dick, you are not going to Nalapur with the 
Commissioner after all ? ” she cried. 

“Burgrave can’t go, and I have to hold the durbar 
instead.” 

“ But how — what ? ” 

“It seems that he had a fearful blow-up with Tighe 
this morning, after taking it for granted all along that he 
would be allowed to leave off his splints and go. Tighe 
absolutely howled at the idea, told him that in moving from 
this house to his own he had jarred the knee so badly as to 
throw himself back for a weeli, and that the splints must 
stay on for some time yet. Of course he can’t ride in them, 
and to take him through the mountains in a doolie would 
be madness.” 

“ I wondered at his being allowed to ride so soon,” said 
Georgia, “but I thought Dr Tighe must have found him 
better than we expected. Of course I haven’t seen the 
knee for some time lately. But did he tell you what the 
object of the durbar was ? ” 

“He did. It is just what we thought it would be, 
Georgie.” 

“Nonsense ! ” cried Georgia sharply. “As if you would 
go to Nalapur in that case ! Are you joking, Dick 1 ” 

His set face brought conviction slowly to her mind. 

“You are not joking, and yet you came home, and got 
ready, just as if you meant to hold the durbar, and never 
told me ! ” she cried. 

“ I do mean to hold the durbar,” said Dick. 

E 


146 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


She sat stunned, and he went on : “I thought I wouldn’t 
tell you till the last moment, because I knew how you 
would feel about it, and I didn’t want to worry you more 
than could be helped.” 

“ To worry me ! ” she repeated. “ And yet you come 
here and try to tease me with this absurd, impossible story ? 
You are not going.” 

Dick looked her straight in the face. “ But I am,” he 
said. 

“ But you said you would resign first.” 

“I must resign afterwards, that’s all. There are some 
things a man can’t do, Georgie, and one is to desert in the 
face of the enemy.” 

“ But it’s wrong — dishonourable ! ” 

“It’s got to be done, and Burgrave has managed to 
engineer matters so that I have to do it. I talked about 
resigning, and he said very huffily that he wasn’t the person 
to receive my resignation, which is quite true. He antici- 
pates danger, I can see, for he tells me he has had informa- 
tion that Bahram Khan has some sort of plot on hand, and 
do you expect me to hang back after that ? ” 

“ I never thought you would care what people said. If 
it’s right to resign, do it, and let them say what they like.” 

“ If I wasn’t a soldier I would, but I have no choice.” 

“No choice between right and wrong?” 

“ Not as a soldier. It isn’t my business to criticise my 
orders, but to execute them. Oh, I know all you are think- 
ing. I see it perfectly well, and from your point of view 
you are absolutely in the right, and as an individual I agree 
with you, but I am not my own master.” 

“ And your personal honour ? ” 

“ I’m afraid it has got to look after itself. Don’t think 
me a brute, Georgie. I want to be on your side, but I 
can’t.” 

“ Then I suppose it’s no use my saying anything more ? ” 

“I really think it would be better not. You see, it 
would only make us both awfully uncomfortable, and do no 
good.” 

“Oh, don’t!” burst from Georgia. “I can’t bear to hear 
you talk like that. Remember your promise to Ashraf Ali. 
The poor old man has relied on that, and pledged himself to 
all the Sardars that the Government doesn’t intend to for- 


HONOUR AND DUTY. 


147 


sake them. The whole honour of England is at stake. 
Dick, these people have learnt from you and my father to 
believe the word of an Englishman, and are you going to 
teach them to distrust it now ? ” 

“ When you have quite finished ” began Dick. 

“ I can’t ! I can’t ! Oh, Dick, our own people, who 
know us and trust us ! Have you the heart to forsake 
them 1 Dick, won’t you listen to me ? I have never urged 
you to do anything against your will before, but when it is 
a matter of right and conscience — ! I know you believe 
you’re right now, but how will you feel about it afterwards? 
Think of our friends betrayed, our name disgraced, through 
you!” 

“Hang it, Georgie !” cried Dick, losing his temper, “you 
make a man feel such a cur. I tell you I have got to go.” 

“I wish I had died when baby died at Iskandarbagh, 
rather than lived to hear you say that.” 

Dick turned away without answering, and took up his 
sword from the table where he had laid it down. It was 
always Georgia’s privilege to buckle the sword-belt for 
him, and she rose mechanically, rousing herself with an 
effort from her stupor of dismay. He took the strap 
roughly out of her hands. 

“No,” he said, “you’d better have nothing to do with it. 
The blame is all mine at present, and you can keep your 
own conscience clear.” 

She sank upon a chair again and watched him miserably 
as he buckled on the sword and went out. On the 
threshold he looked back, softening a little. 

“ Graham has changed his mind, and is not coming to 
the durbar. If there should be any attempt at a rising, 
you are to take refuge in the old fort. Tighe-will come 
and sleep in the house these two nights if you are nervous.” 

“ I’m not nervous,” said Georgia indignantly. 

“ Oh, very well. After all, we shall be between you and 
Nalapur.” 

He crossed the hall to the front door, Georgia’s strained 
nerves quivering afresh as his spurs clinked at each step. 
Suddenly she realised that he was gone, and without 
bidding her farewell. 

“Dick!” she cried faintly, “you are not going — like 
this?” 


148 THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 

There was no answer, and she moved slowly to the 
window, supporting herself by the furniture. He was 
already mounted, and was giving his final directions to 
Ismail Bakhsh. The sight gave Georgia fresh strength, 
and stepping out on the verandah, she ran round the corner 
of the house. There was one place where he always turned 
and looked back as he rode out. He could not pass it un- 
heeded even now, that spot, close to the gate of the com- 
pound, where she had so often waited for his return. As 
she stood grasping the verandah rail with both hands, the 
consciousness that for the first time in their married life he 
was leaving her in anger swept over her like a fiood. 

“ Oh, it will kill me ! ” she moaned, seizing one of the 
pillars to support herself, but almost immediately another 
thought flashed into her mind. “No, he is not angry — my 
dear old Dick ! he is only grieved. He durst not be kind 
to me, lest I should persuade him any more, and he should 
have to give way. God keep you, my darling ! ” 

In the rush of happy tears that filled her eyes, the land- 
scape was blotted out, and when she could see distinctly 
again, Dick had passed the gate. She could just distinguish 
the top of his helmet above the wall as he rode. He had 
gone by while she was not looking. Would it have been 
any comfort to her to know that he had looked back, and 
not seeing her, had ridden on faster ^ 

“ I had to behave like a brute, or I should have given in 
— and she didn’t see it,” he said to himself remorsefully. 
“ Of course she was right, bless her ! She always is, but I 
couldn’t do anything else.” 

Her pale reproachful face haunted him, and had there 
been time he would have turned back, but he was obliged to 
hurry on. As he entered the town, he came upon Dr Tighe. 

“ Doctor,” he said, laying a hand on the little man’s 
shoulder, “look after my wife while I’m away. She’s 
awfully cut up at my going like this.” 

“ All right ! ” said the doctor cheerfully ; “ and don’t 
you be frightened about her. Mrs North is a sensible 
woman, and knows better than to go and make herself ill 
with fretting.” 

“ The Memsahib parted from the sahib without kissing 
him ! ” said one of the servants wonderingly to the rest. 



“LOOK AFTKK MY WIFE WHILE i’m AWAY 


99 





“Il*-"-- rite 





„ ,S3S9ife-vl- 


<’- ‘i4v 





HONOUR AND DUTY. 


149 


“ What foolish talk is this ? ” asked Mabel’s bearer scorn- 
fully. “ My last Memsahib never kissed the Sahib unless 
he had gained her favour by a gift of jewels.” 

The tone implied that the subject might be dismissed as 
beneath contempt, but the man’s actions did not altogether 
tally with it, for after loftily waving aside the assurance of 
the first speaker that this Sahib and Memsahib were not as 
others, he retired precipitately to his own quarters. Here 
a lanky youth, who was slumbering peacefully in the midst 
of a miscellaneous collection of goods, some of them Mabel’s, 
and others the bearer’s own, was suddenly roused by a 
kick. 

“ Hasten to Dera Gul with a message of good omen ! ” 
said the bearer, impelling his messenger firmly in the 
desired direction. “ Nath Sahib and the doctor lady have 
quarrelled, and until they meet again he is without the 
protection of her magic.” 


CHAPTER XHL 


ONE NIGHT. 

“Awake, Miss Sahib, awake ! ” 

“ Miss North ! Miss North ! ” 

Mabel sat up in bed. Her window was being shaken 
violently, and outside on the verandah were those two per- 
sistent voices. 

“ See what it is, Tara,” she called to her ayah, but the 
woman was crouching in a corner, her teeth chattering with 
terror. Seeing that she was too frightened to move, Mabel 
threw on a dressing-gown and went to the window. Out- 
side stood Fitz Anstruther, his face pale in the moonlight, 
and Ismail Bakhsh, who was armed with his old regimental 
carbine and tulwar. Thus accoutred, he was wont to mount 
guard over the house and its inmates when Dick was absent, 
patrollii.g the verandahs at intervals ; but he had never 
hitherto found it necessary to alarm his charges at midnight. 

“ What is it f ” asked Mabel, opening the window. 

“ You must get dressed at once, and bring anything that 
you particularly value,” said Fitz hurriedly. “We were 
attacked on the way to Nalapur, and there was no durbar. 
I’m come instead of the Major to fetch you to the old fort, 
for Bahram Khan and his cut-throats may be here at any 
moment. Will you speak to Mrs North, please? I was 
afraid of startling her if I knocked at her window or came 
into the house. Winlock is outside with twenty sowars, 
and he and I will see after the papers in the Major’s 
study.” 

Mabel dropped the blind and went towards Georgia’s 
room, twisting up her hair mechanically as she did so. 
Rahah was already on the alert, and met her at the door 
with gleaming eyes. 

“I know. Miss Sahib. The evil is at hand at last. 
Awake, O my lady ! ” She laid a hand gently on Georgia’s 
. 160 


ONE NIGHT. 151 

forehead. “The time has come to take refuge in the fort. 
The Sahib bade me be prepared.” 

“Dick has sent Mr Anstruther to fetch us, Georgie,” 
said Mabel, unconsciously altering Fitz’s words, as Georgia, 
half awake, looked sleepily from her to Eahah. “ I think 
he wants us to be quick.” 

“Of course,” said Georgia, rousing herself. “Now, 
Rahah, you will be happy at last. We’ll come and help 
you, Mab, before Tara’s ready. Oh, but the papers ! — I 
must see that they are safe.” 

“Mr Anstruther is looking after them,” said Mabel. 

“ I wonder whether Dick thought of giving him the key 
of the safe? Very likely he forgot it in his hurry. He 
had better have my duplicate. Oh, thanks, Mab ! There’s 
a tin despatch-box standing by the safe which will hold all 
the most important papers.” 

With the key in her hand, Mabel hurried down the 
passage, her slippers making no sound on the matting. 
There was a light in Dick’s den, and Fitz and Captain 
Winlock were shovelling armfuls of papers and various 
small articles into a huge camel-trunk which stood open in 
the middle of the floor. As Mabel reached the door, Win- 
lock held out something to Fitz. “Not much good taking 
this, at any rate,” he said, and a cold hand seemed to grip 
Mabel’s heart as she saw that it was Dick’s tobacco-pouch, 
which Georgia, with what his sister considered a reprehen- 
sible toleration of her husband’s pleasant vices, had worked 
for him. 

“ No, put it in,” said Fitz gruffly. “ It may comfort her 
to have it.” 

A slight sound at the door, half gasp, half groan, made 
both men jump, and looking round they saw Mabel, her 
eyes wide with terror. 

“Mr Anstruther, what has happened to Dick?” 

The words were barely audible. Fitz stood guiltily silent. 

“ Tell me,” she said. 

“He was wounded,” growled Winlock. 

“ It’s worse than that, I know. Is he taken prisoner ? ” 

“ No,” was the unwilling reply. 

“ Then he’s killed ! Oh ! ” but before Mabel could 

utter another word, Fitz’s hand was upon her mouth. 

“ Miss North, you mustn’t scream. For Heaven’s sake, 


152 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


think of his wife ! Remember what those two are — have 
been — to one another, and remember — everything. Let us 
get her safe to the fort, and let Mrs Hardy break it to her 
gently. A sudden shock like this might kill her.” 

Mabel freed herself from the restraining hand, and stood 
shivering as if with cold. “ Oh, Dick, Dick ! ” she wailed 
pitifully, in a tone that went to the men’s hearts, and then 
she crept back in silence along the passage. Once in her 
own room, she dropped helplessly into a chair and sat rigid, 
staring straight before her. Dick dead ! Georgia a widow ! 
that perfect comradeship at an end for ever ! — and Georgia 
did not know it. Mabel wrung her hands feebly. It was 
the only movement she had strength to make. All power 
of thought and action seemed to have forsaken her. Dick 
was dead and Georgia was left. 

“ My beloved Mab ! ” Georgia came hurrying in, equipped 
for driving. “ I said I should be ready first, but I didn’t 
expect to find you quite so far behind. I believe Rahah 
keeps half my things packed, aU ready for a night alarm of 
this kind, but of course your ayah is not accustomed to 
these little excitements. Are you quite overwhelmed by the 
amount that has to be done 1 ” 

“ Yes ; I don’t know what to pack first,” said Mabel, with 
a forced laugh, keeping her face turned away. 

“Well, Rahah and I will see to that while you dress. 
We may be some days in the fort, and you don’t want to go 
about in an amber dressing-gown the whole time. We’ll 
begin with your jewel-case. Where is it ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know ! What’s the good of taking that 
sort of thing 1 ” 

“It might be invaluable — to buy food, or bribe the 
enemy, or ransom a prisoner — or anything. Where is it, 
Mab 1 I thought you kept it in here 'i ” 

“Yes, I do.” Mabel looked up from the shoe she was 
tying, as Georgia ransacked a drawer in vain. “But no 
doubt Tara has taken it out to the cart already. She has 
always been instructed to save it first of all if the house 
was on fire.” 

Mabel spoke wearily. The awful irony of Georgia’s 
fussing over a box of trinkets while Dick lay dead almost 
destroyed her self-control. How was it that she did not 
guess the truth without being told ? 


ONE NIGHT. 


153 


“ But why hasn’t she come back to help you to dress 1 I 
hope it’s all right, Mab, but I doubt if you’ll see that jewel- 
case again. She has had time to slip away with it and hide 
somewhere. Here, Rahah, put all these things in the box. 
It’s well to take plenty of clothes, Mab, for we are not 
likely to be able to get much washing done.” 

“ Don’t ! ” burst from Mabel. 

“ Why not ? ” asked Georgia, in astonishment. 

“Why, it sounds as if you thought we were going to 
spend the rest of our lives in the fort,” said Mabel lamely. 

“I don’t see why. Surely you would like to save as 
many of your things as possible, whether we stay there long 
or not ” 

“ Oh yes, of course.” Mabel turned away to fasten her 
dress at the glass, conscious that in Georgia’s eyes she must 
be playing a sorry part. Georgia thought her dazed with 
fright, whereas her mind was full of that dreadful revelation 
which must be made sooner or later. 

“Are you nearly ready, Mrs North?” asked Fitz’s voice 
in the passage. 

“Quite,” replied Georgia, stuffing Mabel’s dressing-gown 
ruthlessly into a full trunk. “Tell the servants to come 
and fetch the boxes, please.” 

“Well, I’m afraid the 'servants have stampeded to a 
certain extent. Ismail Bakhsh and the rest of the chaprasis 
and one or two others are left, and that’s aU, but of course 
they’ll make themselves useful.” 

“You see, Mab ! ” said Georgia, and Mabel understood 
that she need not expect to see her jewel-case again. They 
followed Fitz out into the verandah, in front of which were 
ranged all the vehicles belonging to the establishment, 
drawn by everything that could be found even remotely 
resembling a horse. 

“I told Ismail Bakhsh to get them out,” said Fitz. 
“There are the wives and children to bring, and I knew 
you wouldn’t mind.” 

“Of course not,” said Georgia. “Wait a moment, 
please ; I have forgotten something,” and she ran back into 
the drawing-room. Mabel knew what it was she had 
suddenly remembered. 

“ I hope she won’t be long,” said Fitz anxiously. “We’ve 
been here a quarter of an hour already.” 


154 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


Only a quarter of an hour ! To Mabel it seemed hours 
since she had been awakened by those voices on the veran- 
dah. She looked out beyond the line of troopers sitting 
motionless on their horses, and noticed, without perceiving 
the significance of the fact, that there were two or three 
of their number acting as scouts farther off in the moon- 
light. 

“ I daren’t lose any more time,” Fitz went on, fidgeting 
up and down the steps. “ I can’t think how it is they have 
left us so long.” 

Ismail Bakhsh, stowing Mabel’s dressing-bag under the 
seat of the dog-cart, looked round. “Sahib, he rides 
to-night. They wiU not cross the border until he has 
passed.” 

“ Then whoever or whatever he may be, he has probably 
saved all our lives,” said Fitz, as Georgia came out of the 
house. While he was helping her into the dog-cart, Mabel 
caught once more the sound of the tramp of the galloping 
horse, which the old trooper’s quick ear had perceived some 
minutes before. The sowars straightened themselves sud- 
denly in their saddles, and the horses pricked their ears in 
the direction of the noise. 

“ Old boy seems somewhat agitated to-night,” muttered 
Winlock to Fitz, as the invisible rider pulled up abruptly, 
then galloped on again. 

“There’s enough to make him so,” returned Fitz, who 
was helping to hoist the last terrified native woman, with 
her burden of two children and several brass pots, into the 
last cart. “All right now?” he demanded, looking down 
the row of vehicles. “We had better be off, then.” 

Was it fancy, or did Mabel see the sparks struck from 
the stone on which the unseen horse stumbled as the sound 
came nearer? She could have screamed for sheer terror; 
but Rahah, who was her companion on the back seat of 
the dog-cart, laughed aloud as she wrapped the end of 
her chadar round the great white Persian cat she held in 
her arms. 

“What is there to fear. Miss Sahib? No man has ever 
stood against Sinjaj Kilin, and he is close at hand. The 
rule of the Sarkar will continue.” 

“Now do tell me what has happened,” Mabel heard 
Georgia saying to Fitz, as he drove out of the gate. “ I’m 


ONE NIGHT. 


155 


sure I am a model soldier’s wife, for Dick suddenly sends 
me a bare message ordering me to abandon all my house- 
hold goods and take refuge in the fort, and I do it without 
asking why! But I must confess I should like to know 
the reason. Did the durbar break up in disorder, or were 
you attacked on the way back ? ” 

“There was no durbar at all. The attack came off on 
the way there. But I say, Mrs North,” said Fitz des- 
perately, anticipating Georgia’s question, “I can’t tell you 
what happened then, for I wasn’t there. Won’t it do if I 
recount my own experiences, and you ask the other fellows 
about the rest of it when we get to the fort ? ” He left her 
no time to answer, but went on hurriedly : — 

“ Yesterday we got as far as the entrance to the Akrab 
Pass, some way beyond Dera Gul, and camped there for the 
night. The Major chose the site of the camp himself, in 
an awfully good position commanding the mouth of the 
pass, and arranged everything just as if it was war-time. 
I knew, of course, that he was looking out for treachery 
of some sort, and I was awfully sick when he told me this 
morning that I was to stay and do camp-guard with 
Winlock, and not go with him to the dm*bar. I yearned 
horribly to disobey orders, but, you see, he left me certain 
things to do if — if anything went wrong.” Fitz cleared his 
throat, muttered that he thought he must have got a cold, 
and hastened on. “ Beltring had come down from Nalapur 
to meet the Commissioner, as he thought, and the Sardar 
Abd-ul-Nabi was waiting just inside the pass with an escort 
of the Amir’s troops. We in camp had nothing to do but 
kick our heels all day, for the Major left strict orders 
against going out of sight of the pass. He meant to get 
through his work by daylight, so as to sleep at the camp 
to-night, and come back here in the morning, you see. 
There were no caravans passing, and the place seemed 
deserted, which we thought a bad sign. But about eleven 
this morning one of our scouts brought in a small boy, who 
had come tearing down the pass and asked for the English 
camp. We had the little chap up before us, and I recog- 
nised him as a slave-boy I saw at Dera Gul the day Miss 
North and I were there. He knew me at once, and began 
to pour out what he had to say so fast that we could 
scarcely follow him. It seems that the Hasrat Ali Begum 


156 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


had managed in some way to get an inkling of Bahram 
Khan’s plot, and she despatched one of her confidential old 
ladies to warn you and the Major. Unfortunately, the old 
lady got caught, and Bahram Khan was so enraged with 
his mother that he promptly packed his whole zenana off 
to Nalapur, to be out of miscluef, I suppose. On the way 
through the pass this boy, by the Begum’s orders, managed 
to hide among the rocks when they broke camp, and so 
escaped with her message. He hoped to catch the Major 
before he started, but, most unhappily, he durst not ask the 
only man he met whether he had passed, and he was 
behind him instead of in front. So he came down the pass, 
missing him entirely, of course, and warned us instead. 
The Major’s force was to be attacked in the worst part of 
the defile, he told us, and as soon as a messenger could 
reach Dera Gul to say that the attack had taken place, 
Bahram Khan would set out to raid Alibad. It was an 
awful dilemma for Winlock and me. It was no use sending 
after the Major to warn him, for whatever was to happen 
must have happened by that time, and if we tried to warn 
the town, Bahram Khan was safe to intercept the messenger 
and start on his raid at once, and of course we couldn’t 
evacuate the camp without orders. We decided to strike 
the tents and get everything ready for a start at any 
moment, and we posted our best shots on either side of the 
entrance to the pass, in case the Major’s party should be 
pursued. Then we waited, and at last the — the force 
turned up. Thanks to the Major’s suspicions and precau- 
tions, the surprise was a good deal of a fizzle. But as I 
said, I can’t tell you about that. Well, we had to get back 
here. The enemy were supposed not to be far behind, so 
we left Beltring and twenty-five men to hold the mouth of 
the pass at all hazards, and see that no messenger got 
through until we were safely past Dera Gul. After that it 
was left to them to seize the moment for retreating on Shah 
Nawaz, which Haycraft was to evacuate, so that both de- 
tachments might return here by the line of the canal. We 
put our wounded and baggage in the middle, and started — ” 
“ No, wait ! ” cried Georgia, for hitherto Fitz had spoken 
so fast that she had found it impossible to get in a word. 
“Who were the wounded? You said nothing about them 
before. Was any one killed ? ” 


ONE NIGHT. 


157 


“I — I really can’t give you any particulars,” returned 
Fitz, at his wits’ end. “ Please let me finish my tale. I’m 
getting to the most exciting part. It was fearfully thrilling 
when we had to pass under the very walls of Dera Gul. 
Of course we were all ready for action at a moment’s notice, 
but the men were told to ride at ease, and talk if they liked, 
to give the impression that all was well. I know Winlock 
and I exchanged the most appalling inanities at the top of 
our voices, till the Dera Gul people must have thought we 
were drunk. As we expected, pretty soon there came a 
hail from the walls, asking who we were, and Ressaldar 
Badullah Khan, who was nearest, called out that we were 
coming back from Nalapur without holding the durbar. 
‘ But what has happened ? ’ asked the voice from the wall. 
‘ What should happen, save that the Superintendent Sahib 
won’t hold the durbar?’ said the Ressaldar, and we went 
on. Of course they must have been awfully puzzled, for 
they couldn’t see our wounded in the dark, and the only 
thing they could do w^as to send some one off to the pass to 
find out what had happened. Beltring was to look out for 
that, and if possible to seize the messenger and get his men 
away at once, before Bahram Khan could come up and take 
him in the rear.” 

“And I suppose Dick is helping to prepare the fort 
for defence ? ” asked Georgia. “ There must be a dreadful 
amount to do.” 

“ Oh, that reminds me. Miss North,” cried Fitz quickly, 
turning round to Mabel. “The Commissioner was most 
anxious to come and fetch you himself, but we pointed out 
to him that he could do no good, and being so lame, might 
hinder us a good deal. Excuse me, Mrs North, but I think 
I must give all my attention to driving just here. I don’t 
know why the whole population should have turned their 
possessions out into the street, unless it was to make it 
awkward for us.” 

They were approaching the fort, and the roadway was 
almost blocked with carts, cattle, household goods, and 
terrified people. Several vedettes, to whom Winlock gave 
a countersign, had been passed at various points, and it was 
evident that the sudden danger had not taken the military 
authorities, at any rate, by surprise. The space in front of 
the fort gates was a blaze of light from many torches, and 


158 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


several officers in uniform were resolutely bringing order out 
of the general chaos. Gangs of coolies, bearing sand-bags 
and loads of furniture, fuel, provisions, and forage, seemed 
inextricably mixed up with shrill- voiced women and crying 
children, ponies, camels, and goats ; and it needed a good 
deal of shouting and some diplomacy, with not a little 
physical force, to separate the various streams and set them 
flowing in the right directions. As the dog-cart stopped, 
Woodworth, the adjutant, came up. 

“We want volunteers to help destroy the buildings round 
the fort,” he said. “ You’U go, Anstruther ? What about 
your servants, Mrs North ? ” 

“ There are seven who have come with us, nearly 
all old soldiers,” said Georgia. “If you will speak to 
Ismail Bakhsh, who is a host in himself, I wiU see that 
their wives and children are safely lodged while they set 
to work.” 

“Awfully sorry to trouble you about this sort of thing 
just now,” said Woodworth awkwardly. 

“ Trouble ? I am delighted they should help, of course. 
Where shall I find my husband ? ” 

“ Good heavens ! You haven’t heard ? ” The adju- 

tant stopped suddenly. 

“ You blighted idiot ! ” muttered Fitz under his breath. 
“Fact is, Mrs North, the Major’s hurt — rather badly — ” 
this reluctantly ; “ but I didn’t want to frighten you sooner 
than I could help ” 

“Where is he*? Take me to him at once,” was all she 
said. 

Woodworth stepped forward mechanically to help her out 
of the cart, but found himself forestalled. The Commis- 
sioner had come hurrying up, preceded by two huge Sikhs, 
who cleared a passage for him through the throng, and now, 
supporting himself upon his crutch, he held out his hand to 
Georgia. 

“Believe me, Mrs North,” he said, “you have the 
sympathy of every man here at this terrible time. Surely 
it must be some consolation to you that your noble husband 
fell fighting, as he would have wished, and that the small- 
ness of our losses is entirely owing to his prudence and 
self-sacrifice ? ” 

Georgia, on the ground now, looked about her like one 


ONE NIGHT. 


159 


dazed, finding, wherever she looked, fresh confirmation of 
the cruel tidings. In Mr Burgrave’s sympathising face, in 
Woodworth’s pitying eyes, in the sorrowful glances of the 
stern troopers who had closed up round the group, she read 
the truth of what she had just heard. Her hand went 
quickly from her heart to her eyes, as though to shut out 
the sight. Then it dropped again. 

“ Oh, you might have told me at once ! ” she cried 
bitterly to Fitz. “ I could have borne it better from you 
than from the man who has done it all.” 

“ When you are more yourself, Mrs North, I know you 
will regret this injustice,” said Mr Burgrave, without anger. 
“ Allow me to take you to your quarters in the fort.” 

Georgia shook from head to foot as he offered her his 
arm. She was on the point of refusing it, of yielding to 
the sickening sense of aversion with which his presence 
inspired her, when the scowling gaze of the mounted 
troopers arrested her attention, and awakened her to the 
deadly peril in which the Commissioner stood. These men 
idolised Dick, and they had heard her accuse Mr Burgrave of 
causing his death. A word from her would mean that his 
last moment had come. Even to turn her back upon him 
would be taken to show that she left him to their ven- 
geance, which might not follow immediately, but would be 
certain to fall sooner or later. With a great effort she 
conquered her repugnance, and laid her hand upon his arm. 

“At a time like this tWe are no private quarrels,” she 
said hoarsely, addressing the troopers rather than the Com- 
missioner. “We must aU stand together for the honour 
of England.” 

“ Of course, of course ! ” agreed Mr Burgrave, wondering 
what on earth had called forth such a melodramatic remark, 
for he had missed the growl of disappointed rage with 
which the troopers let their ready blades faU back into the 
scabbards. “ Most admirable spirit, I’m sure.” 

“ Upon my word ! ” muttered Woodworth to Fitz, “ the 
man would have been cut to pieces before our eyes in 
another moment, and he never saw it.” 

“ Oh, ignorance is bliss,” returned Fitz shortly. “ What’s 
to happen to the carts ? ” 

“Broken up for firewood, I suppose. We can’t make 
room for everything.” 


160 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“I fear you will find your quarters somewhat confined,” 
Mr Burgrave was saying kindly to Georgia, as with the 
help of his Sikhs he piloted her through the gateway, “ but 
we cannot expect palatial accommodation in our present 
circumstances. Our good friends Mrs Hardy and Miss 
Graham are taking pains to make things comfortable for 
you, I know, and you must be kind enough to excuse the 
deficiencies due to lack of time and means.” 

Georgia gave a short fierce laugh. The Commissioner’s 
tone suggested that if he had been consulted sooner there 
would have been a perfect Hotel M^tropole in readiness to 
receive the fugitives. She broke away from him, and laid 
her hand lovingly upon one of the new gates, for his pre- 
sentation of which to a presumably ruined fort all the 
newspapers of the province had made Dick their butt only 
the week before. The echoes of their Homeric laughter 
were even at this moment resounding in Bombay on the 
one hand and Lahore on the other. 

“If your life — any of our lives — ^are saved, it will all be 
due to him ! ” she cried, and the Commissioner marvelled at 
the lack of sequence so characteristic of a woman’s mind. 
He led Georgia through the labyrinth of curiously involved 
passages and courts at the back of the club-house, in which 
Government stores and stray pieces of private property 
were lying about peU-mell, until they could be separated 
and reduced to some sort of order by the overworked 
officer in charge of the housing arrangements. Mabel fol- 
lowed with Rahah, and at last they reached a tiny oblong 
courtyard not far from the rear wall of the fort. Here, in 
the middle of the paved space, was Mrs Hardy, sorting a 
confused heap of her possessions with the assistance of an 
elderly Christian native, Mr Hardy’s bearer. 

“ Oh, my dear ! my poor dear ! ” she cried, running to 
Georgia, and for a moment the two women held each other 
locked in a close embrace. 

“ This room,” said Mr Burgrave, who seemed to feel it 
incumbent upon him to do the honours of the place, “ has 
been allotted to Miss Graham, as it communicates by a 
passage mth the Colonel’s quarters in the next courtyard. 
The two on the right are Mr and Mrs Hardy’s, the two on 
the left are intended for you, Mrs North, and the one 
opposite is for you, Mabel. I believe the arrangement 


ONE NIGHT. 161 

was suggested to Colonel Graham by Major North him- 
self.” 

Mrs Hardy raised her head and gave him a fiery glance. 
“ Miss North, will you be so kind as to request Mr Bur- 
grave to go away ? ” she said viciously. 

“ No ; wait, please,” said Georgia. “ Which of the officers 
were -with my husband when he — was hurt, Mr Burgrave ? ” 

“There were several, I believe, but the only one not 
seriously wounded was Mr Beltring, and he will not come 
in until the Shah Nawaz contingent gets here — if at all.” 

“If — when he comes, I should like to see him, please,” 
said Georgia, and the Commissioner departed. 

“Now come in, dear, and lie down,” said Mrs Hardy. 
“ Your rooms are ready, and I see Kahah, hke a thoughtful 
girl, has even brought the cat to make it look homelike. 
Anand Masih will bring you some tea in a minute, and then 
I hope you will just go to bed again.” 

“Dear Mrs Hardy, you have given us all your own 
furniture,” protested Georgia, recognising a well-worn 
writing-table ; but Mrs Hardy shook her head vigorously. 

“Nonsense, my dear, nonsense! We had far more 
brought in than we can possibly use in this little place, 
and as soon as I have seen you settled, Anand Masih and 
I will look after my two rooms. Mr Hardy is helping Dr 
Tighe in the reading-room, which they have turned into a 
hospital, or I know he would have come to see if he could 
do anything for you.” 

Never silent for a moment, Mrs Hardy administered tea 
without milk to Mabel and Georgia, and then tried vainly 
again to induce them to go to bed. Just as she was de- 
parting in despair. Flora Graham ran in. 

“ I am helping to arrange the hospital — I can’t stay,” she 
panted. “ Oh, Mrs North, Mabel darling, I am so sorry ! 
I can’t tell you how much — ” She stopped, unable to 
speak. “I know a little what it is like,” she added, with a 
sob ; “ Fred and his men are not in yet.” 

She dashed away, and Georgia and Mabel sat silent, 
hand in hand, until the sound of a cheer from the hard- 
worked garrison heralded the arrival of the Shah Nawaz 
detachment. Presently the clink of spurs on the verandah 
announced young Beltring, who was Dick’s most trusted 
pupil among the military officers desiring political employ- 

L 


162 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


ment, and as a man after his chief’s own heart, had been 
allowed to earn experience, if not fame, as his assistant at 
Nalapur. He came in slowly and reluctantly, scarcely 
daring to look at Georgia, his torn and bloodstained clothes 
and bandaged head bearing eloquent testimony to the 
fighting he had seen that day. 

“Sit down, Mr Beltring,” said Georgia, holding out her 
hand to him. “You got here without further loss, I 
hope 'i ” 

“Yes, the enemy were on both flanks, but they never 
came near enough to do any harm,” he answered, dropping 
wearily into a chair. 

“Now tell us, please. You were with him — at the 
end?” 

“ I was the nearest, but not with him. He was riding 
with that treacherous scoundrel Abd-ul-Nabi, and we had 
orders to keep a few paces to the rear. We thought he 
wanted to speak to Abd-ul-Nabi privately, but now I 
believe it was because he foresaw what was coming. The 
rest of us were stiU in that part of the pass where the walls 
are too steep for any ambush, while he, on in front with 
Abd-ul-Nabi, was rounding the corner where the track goes 
down suddenly into a wide rocky nullah. He must have 
seen something that he was not meant to see — the glitter of 
weapons among the rocks perhaps — for he turned suddenly 
and shouted, ‘ Back ! back ! an ambuscade ! ’ Abd-ul-Nabi 
spurred his horse across the pathway to prevent his getting 
back to us, but the Major came straight at him, and the 
ruffian pulled out a pistol and fired at him point-blank. I 
cut the wretch down the next moment, but the Major had 
dropped like a log, and before we could get him up there 
was a rush round the corner in front, while Abd-ul-Nabi’s 
escort, who had been riding last, attacked us in the rear. 
Leyward took command, and the fellows behind were soon 
disposed of, but in front we had a pretty hard time. At 
last we drove them back far enough to get at the Major’s 
body. He was lying under a heap of dead. I got him out, 
and his head fell back on my shoulder. No, there could be 
no mistake, Mrs North. Do you think I would ever have 
left him while there was any breath in his body 1 I tried to 
get him on to my horse, and BaduUah Khan helped me. 
Just as we had got him up, there was another rush, and the 


ONE NIGHT. 


163 


wretched beast broke away. I was thrown off on my head, 
and when I came to myself the Ressaldar was holding me in 
front of him on his horse, and we were in full retreat down 
the pass. We had lost eight killed beside the Major, and 
Leyward and the two other fellows were aU badly wounded, 
besides almost every one of the men, and — and they wouldn’t 
go back.” 

“ No, no ; it would have been wrong,” murmured Georgia. 
“Thank you for telling me this. There could be no 
message.” 

“No message,” repeated Beltring, answering the unasked 
question. 

“ He could not send me any message,” wailed Georgia, as 
the young man went out, “ and I parted from him in anger. 
Oh, Dick, my darling, my darling — forgive me ! ” 

“ Oh, Georgie, don’t ! ” sobbed Mabel. 

“ Poor Mab ! I forgot you were there. Lie down here 
on my bed. I can’t sleep.” 

“ I’m sure I can’t,” protested Mabel. 

It was not long before she cried herself to sleep, however, 
but Georgia sat where she was until the morning. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


TO KJEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 

“ Mab ! ” Mabel awoke from her uneasy slumbers to wonder 
where she was, and why Georgia was sitting there, her face 
silhouetted against the square of grey light that represented 
a window. “ Mab ! Dick is not dead.” 

“Why — oh, Georgie ! — have you heard anything*?” 

“ No ; but I know it. We always agreed that if either 
of us died when the other was not there, the one that was 
dead should come back to say good-bye. And I have 
waited for him all night, and he has not come.” 

Mabel gazed at her in dismay. “Oh, but you are not 
building upon that, Georgie*? How can it be any proof 
that he is alive *? He might not be allowed to come.” 

“ He promised. Besides, I know he is alive,” persisted 
Georgia obstinately. “ If he was dead, I should feel it.” 

“Georgie dear, you mustn’t go on like this. You will 
make yourself ill. Come and lie down a little, and try to 
go to sleep. I will tell you if he comes.” Mabel ended 
with a sob. 

“ If he does, I shall know,” murmured Georgia, as she lay 
down. “ Thanks, Mab ; I am so tired.” 

Mabel waited only until she was asleep, and then, sum- 
moning Rahah to watch beside her, went in search of Dr 
Tighe. It so happened that she met him in the passage 
which led into the courtyard. 

“ Bad business this. Miss North. We can ill spare your 
brother. How is his poor wife 1 ” 

“She has borne up wonderfully so far, but — oh. Dr 
Tighe, I’m afraid her mind is going. She will persist that 
Dick is not dead.” 

“Poor thing! can’t realise it yet,” said the doctor com- 
passionately. 

“No; it is quite a delusion. She says he is still alive, 

164 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 165 

or she would know it. What can we do? I thought 
perhaps if she could see his body ” 

“No, no. Better that the delusion should last for ever 
than she should see his body after those fiends have had to 
do with it.” 

“ But she must give up hope soon, and it will be such a 
fearful disappointment ” 

“ If the hope keeps her up through the next few days, so 
much the better. Afterwards, please God, she’ll have more 
effectual comfort than we could give her.” 

“ But I can’t help hoping too, and it will make the reality 
so much worse,” confessed Mabel, with an irrepressible 
sob. 

“ Woman alive ! who cares about you ? ” cried the doctor 
furiously. “ What do your little bits of feelings matter com- 
pared with hers? No, no; I beg your pardon, Miss North,” 
his tone softening. “I’d get a fine wigging if the Com- 
missioner heard me, wouldn’t I? But you must remem- 
ber how much you have got left, and your sister has 
nothing. For God’s sake, let her please herself with think- 
ing that he’s all right for the present, if that comforts her 
at all. By-and-by the truth will come to her gradually, 
but she will have the child to think of, and the worst bitter- 
ness will be gone. Come, now, you’re brave enough for 
that, aren’t you ? How is she — asleep just now ? I’ll look 
in again later on. Now make up your mind to be unselfish 
about this.” 

“Does he mean that generally I am selfish?” mused 
Mabel. “It never struck me before. But nobody seems 
to care about me. They all think that I have Eustace left. 
As if he could ever make up to me for Dick ! ” she laughed 
mirthlessly at the mere idea. “ He will be coming in pre- 
sently and making appropriate remarks. Oh dear, oh 
dear ! if he had gone to the durbar and been killed instead 
of Dick, I believe I should have been glad. How dreadful 
it is ! How can I ever marry him ? But I know I shall 
never have the courage to tell him I want to give him up. 
What can I do ? ” 

“ Mabel, my poor little girl ! ” Mr Burgrave emerged 
from the passage, and limped towards her as she stood 
listlessly on the verandah. “ You have slept badly, I fear ? 
How is Mrs North ? ” 


166 THE WAEDEN OF THE M ARCHES. 

“ She won’t believe that he is dead.” And with her eyes 
full of tears, Mabel repeated to him Georgia’s words. 

“ Very touching, very touching ! ” remarked the Com- 
missioner, his tone breathing the deepest sympathy. “ Poor 
thing ! it is unspeakably sad to see so strong a mind over- 
thrown. You must find it very trying, poor child ! I hope 
you are taking care of yourself?” His glance travelled 
over her, and Mabel remembered for the first time that she 
had slept in her clothes, and that her hair had not been 
touched since she had twisted it up roughly the night be- 
fore on the first alarm. 

“ Oh, I know I’m not fit to be seen ! ” she cried im- 
patiently. “ But what does that signify ? ” 

“It signifies very much. You must remember the 
natives in the fort. Their endurance — even their loyalty — 
may hang upon our success in keeping up appearances 
during the next few days. And we white men, also — 
surely it is a poor compliment to us to make such a sorry 
ob — figure — of yourself ? Then there is your unfortunate 
sister. Is it likely to restore her mental balance to see you 
in such a dishevelled condition ? Oblige me by changing 
your dress and doing something to your hair. It is a 
public duty at such a time.” 

“I wish you wouldn’t bother !” said Mabel, weeping weakly. 
“ I have no black things, and I can’t bear to put on colours.” 

“My dear girl, is it for me to advise you as to your 
clothes ? ” The tone, half severe and half humorous, stung 
Mabel with a recollection of their conversation of ten days 
before. “Considering poor Mrs North’s delusion, might 
it not be advisable to humour her, in so far as not to insist 
upon wearing mourning immediately ? ” 

“ Oh, very well,” was the grudging reply, of which Mabel 
repented the next moment, adding contritely, “ I’m sorry to 
have been so cross, Eustace. I will try to be brave.” 

“That is what I expect of my little girl. She would 
never bring discredit upon my choice by showing the white 
feather. I rely upon her to set an example of cheerfulness 
to the whole garrison.” 

He bestowed upon her what Mabel inwardly stigmatised as 
a lofty kiss of encouragement before departing, and she obeyed 
him meekly, going at once to her room to change her dress. 
She was so angry with herself for having deserved his 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 


167 


rebuke that she forgot to be angry with him. After all, 
it was well for her to have this severe master to please, if 
she was in danger of bringing reproach upon her country 
by her faint-heartedness. She was taking herself to task 
in this strain, when the sound of voices in the outermost 
of Georgia’s two rooms, which was next to her own, in- 
terrupted her meditations. 

“ Oh dear ! Georgie hasn’t slept long,” she lamented to 
herself. “ Who is that talking to her, I wonder ? Oh, Mr 
Anstruther, of course.” 

“ I came in to see if there was anything I could do for 
you,” she heard Fitz say. “I’m ashamed to have been 
so long in coming, but the fact is, I was up all night 
knocking down houses and setting coolies to cart away 
the remains, and when we had got the space all round 
pretty clear and came in, I was so dead tired that I just 
lay down and went to sleep where I was.” 

“ Oh, you should have gone on resting while you had the 
chance,” said Georgia. “ Everybody is only too kind to me, 
and there’s nothing I want done. Then we are really 
besieged now 1 ” 

“ I suppose we might say that we are in a state of siege. 
At present all the tribes are holding jirgahs to consider the 
matter. Our outer circle of vedettes was driven in soon 
after we got here last night, but we held the houses facing 
the fort against a few spasmodic rushes until we had got the 
zone of fire cleared. The enemy are too close for comfort as 
it is, but at any rate they have a space to cross before they 
can get up to the walls.” 

“ Then they are occupying the town 1 ” 

“ Decidedly, if that means looting all the houses and firing 
most of them.” 

“ Is our house burnt 1 ” 

“Almost as soon as you were out of it. I noticed the 
fire when I looked round once as we were driving. But 
I don’t think the enemy can have been as close behind us 
as that. I fancy the servants who shirked coming with us 
were looting, and some one had knocked over a lamp.” 

“ And how are things going with us here ? ” 

“So-so. But you know, Mrs North, if it hadn’t been for 
the Major and Colonel Graham, we might as well have taken 
refuge in a fowl-house as in this place. Long ago they got 


168 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


in all the stores they could without attracting attention, 
and everything else was ready to be moved at a moment’s 
notice. They had their plans all cut and dried, too, and 
every man found his post assigned to him. The walls 
are good against anything but artillery, and the towers and 
loopholes and gates have all been put into some sort of 
repair.” 

“ Yes,” said Georgia, “and that is the best of the situation. 
Now for the worst.” 

“Well, you know, it would all have been worst but for 
the Major, and every soul inside the walls is blessing him. 
The worst is that we have scraped together a preposterous 
number of non-combatants — some of them the wives and 
children of the sowars, of course, but a good many of 
them Hindus and bazaar-people of that sort, whom it would 
have been sheer murder to leave outside, but who will be 
no good to us whatever. All the old soldiers have been 
re-enlisted, and the boys are to make themselves useful, 
but there is a helpless crowd of women and children and 
elderly people to dispose of somehow. That’s the secret 
of your close quarters here. We can’t have the poor wretches 
anywhere near the walls, so they are put away in the central 
courts, where we can keep an eye upon them, and overawe 
them if necessary.” 

“ Poor things ! I must go and see after them,” murmured 
Georgia. 

“Of course, with all these extra mouths, we are not 
provisioned for a regular siege, unless we eat the horses, 
which ought to be saved in case we have to cut our way 
out at last. But the worst thing is that we have no 
artillery, not so much as a field-gun, and very little of 
anything else. The regiment have their carbines, of course, 
but the Commissioner’s Sikhs are the only men with rifles 
— except those of us who go in for big game shooting. 
However, as a set-off against that, the enemy have no big 
guns either. And then, it’s about the best season of the 
year for moving troops on this frontier, so that we ought to 
be relieved before very long.” 

“ But that’s only if the enemy don’t cut the canals.” 

“Yes, I’m afraid they’re too sharp not to do that. It 
looks as if a dust-storm was coming on, which would help 
them if they set to work at once.” 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 


169 


“ Have they made any pretence of offering terms 1 ” 

“ The Amir sent his mullah this morning with a flag of 
truce. He couldn’t be allowed inside, so the Commissioner 
and Colonel Graham spoke to him from the walls. But 
there was no accepting what he offered.” 

“ What was it ? ” 

“ Poor old Ashraf Ali was awfully cut up about — what 
happened yesterday. He explained through the mullah 
that he arranged the ambuscade entirely for the benefit 
of the Commissioner, whom he really was anxious to have 
out of the way. It was a pure accident that the very 
last thing he could have wished happened instead. How- 
ever, in order that his trouble mightn’t be wasted, he 
suggested that we should hand him over the Commissioner 
now. He will see that he gives no more trouble on this 
frontier, and it is open to the rest of us either to stay here 
unmolested, or to return to civilisation under a safe-conduct, 
just as we like.” 

You mean that he actually offers to guarantee the safety 
of every one else if the Commissioner gives himself up ? ” 

“Practically that. Doesn’t it strike you as a little 
quaint ? ” 

“ Was that the Commissioner’s view of it ? ” 

“ I believe so. He remarked what a preposterous demand 
it was, when he had the responsibility of the fort and the 
whole community on his shoulders. He doesn’t intend to 
shirk his duty. The Colonel said it was a tremendous 
relief to hear how sensibly he took it. Some men would 
have insisted on giving themselves up forthwith, but he has 
too much to think of.” 

A wan smile showed itself on Georgia’s face. “Well, if 
he intends to interpret his duty very strictly, we may wish 
he had gone,” she said. 

“ I don’t believe he is even technically in the right, and 
certainly I think the Colonel will have to organise a little 
mutiny if he insists upon bossing the show. Couldn’t you 
turn on Miss North to induce him to moderate his preten- 
sions a bit?” Mabel, in the next room, shook her fist 
unseen at the speaker. 

“After all,” said Georgia, “it’s most unlikely that they 
would have kept their promise to protect us, even if he had 
given himself up.” 


170 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Very little doubt about that. From what the mullah 
said, it’s clear that there are two parties in their camp, and 
I shouldn’t care to say which is the stronger. Bahram 
Khan’s following, besides his own men, who did all the 
looting last night, comprises the more troublesome of the 
frontier tribes and the chiefs who have grudges against the 
Amir, while Ashraf Ali has his loyal Sardars and the tribes 
which have always been friendly to us. If only we had the 
Major here ! ” 

“You mean that he would play them off against one 
another 'I ” 

“Yes, and there’s no one else to do it. Beltring and I 
wanted to try, because there’s just the chance that the tribes 
would listen to us, as we have been with him so much, but 
the Colonel won’t let us leave the fort.” 

“No, it would be no good. You would only be risking 
your lives uselessly,” said Georgia. “He has more in- 
fluence over them than any man I ever knew, except my 
father.” 

“Ah, but, Mrs North, there’s no time to lose. As soon 
as we have killed two or three of the lot, they’ll all be 
against us, and the longer we hold out the worse it will be. 
Even if Bahram Khan doesn’t succeed in bringing them 
over to his side at once, he will be intriguing against his 
uncle in secret.” 

“I know, but what can we do? I dare not make in- 
quiries about Dick, for if the Amir is keeping him safe 
somewhere, it might put him into Bahram Khan’s power. 
We can only wait.” 

“Oh, Mrs North, don’t count on that,” pleaded Fitz 
sorrowfully. “ It’s no good, believe me. Ashraf AH knows 
he is dead as well as we do.” 

“ But I know that he is not dead,” said Georgia, and 
Fitz went out hastily. In the verandah he met Mabel. 

“Oh, Miss North, I wanted to speak to you,” he said, 
but she beckoned him imperiously aside. 

“You seem to think it rather a flne thing to abuse a man 
who isn’t there to defend himself,” she said. 

“ Indeed ? ” he said, in astonishment. “ I wasn’t aware 
of it.” 

“ Perhaps you didn’t know that I could hear you when 
you were laughing at Mr Burgrave ? ” 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 


171 


“ I certainly didn’t know you were listening, but I was 
not laughing at him. I merely said that he hadn’t given 
himself up. Would you wish me to say that he had ? ” 

“You hinted that it was wrong and cowardly of him, and 
that he was saving himself at the expense of every one else 
here, when you ought to know it was only his strong sense 
of duty that kept him back. Would you have gone t ” 

“Certainly not, if the burden of the defence rested on 
me, as the Commissioner fancies it does on him.” 

“You see! And you said yourself it would probably 
have been no good.” 

“So I say still. Bahram Khan has more on hand than 
a piece of private revenge. If we trusted to his safe- 
conduct, we should be in for Cawnpore over again.” 

“And after that you still make fun of Mr Burgrave for 
not going ! It’s a shame ! I know he has made mistakes 
in the past, from our point of view, but I won’t hear him 
called a coward. He is the most noble, lofty-minded 
man in the world, and I only wish I was more worthy of 
him ! ” 

“ You can’t expect me to indorse that, any more than the 
Commissioner himself would,” said Fitz. “If anything I 
have said about him has pained you. Miss North, I humbly 
beg your pardon ; but please remember that I should never 
speak against him intentionally, simply because you think 
so highly of him.” 

“ I only want you to understand that I am not going to 
ask him to moderate his pretensions, as you call it,” went 
on Mabel, rather confused. “For one thing, he wouldn’t 
do it, and for another, now that Dick is gone, I must be 
guided by him.” 

“ Quite so,” said Fitz, somewhat dryly. Then his tone 
changed. “ I wanted to ask you what you thought about 
telling poor Mrs North something the mullah said this 
morning. It struck me that perhaps we ought to keep it 
dark for a bit, as the doctor thinks it a good thing she can’t 
believe that the worst has happened. The poor old Amir 
wept as if for his own son when he heard that the Major 
was dead, and went himself to look for the body, intending 
to give it a state funeral. But when they got to the pass, 
it was gone. The Hasrat Ali Begum, who was in camp 
near, had broken pardah with her women as soon as the 


172 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


fight was over, and carried off the body and buried it. 
They were afraid of what Bahram Khan would do with it, 
you see, and at present they won’t tell even the Amir where 
the grave is, but he sent word that he meant to build a 
tomb over it later on. Now, ought Mrs North to know?” 

“ I shouldn’t think so, should you ? I have never been 
much with people in trouble — I don’t know how to deal 
with them. But I think it wiU be better not to tell her 
unless she asks.” 

“ But she isn’t likely to ask, is she ? Oh, Miss North, if 
she might only be right ! I don’t believe there’s a man in 
the fort that wouldn’t gladly die to bring him back.” 

The expected dust-storm did not begin until the after- 
noon, and in the interval the besieged continued to 
strengthen their defences, disturbed only by an intermittent 
rifle-fire. A party of the enemy had taken possession of 
General Keeling’s old house, and lying down behind the 
low wall which surrounded the roof, were firing at any one 
they saw on the ramparts. Thanks to the efforts of Colonel 
Graham and Dick, the ruined parapet here had been re- 
paired, but when there were messages to be sent from one 
point to another, the cry was “ Heads down ! ” So skil- 
fully were the enemy posted that no response to their 
annoying attentions was possible until a party of Sikhs, at 
considerable risk to life and limb, scaled the turrets flanking 
the gateway, the repair of which had not been completed 
owing to lack of time, and succeeded in commanding the 
roof of the old house. They had scarcely cleared it before 
the storm came on, and they were ordered down again, 
since it was generally believed that an assault would be 
attempted under cover of the wind and darkness. Nothing 
of the kind took place, however, and the garrison, who 
were kept under arms, chafed at their enforced inaction, 
and tried in vain to pierce the obscurity which surrounded 
them, while the wind howled and the dust rattled on the 
roofs. When, last of all, the rain poured down in sheets, 
and the air cleared sufficiently to allow the buildings beyond 
the zone of fire to become dimly visible, it was seen that 
the enemy had taken advantage of the storm for a different 
purpose. On the roof of General Keeling’s house was now 
a rough stone breastwork, so constructed as to shelter its 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 


173 


occupants even against the fire from the towers, and pro- 
vided with loopholes so arranged as to allow the barrel of a 
rifie to be pointed through them in any direction, 

“It looks to me as though we should have to rush the 
Generals house and blow it up,” said the Commissioner to 
Colonel Graham, as they stood in one of the turrets, peering 
into the sweeping rain, during the last few minutes of day- 
light. “ That sangar makes our walls untenable.” 

“Then we shall have to raise them,” was the laconic 
reply, as Colonel Graham passed his field-glass to his com- 
panion. “You may not have noticed that though the 
General’s old stone house is the only one strong enough 
to support a sangar on the roof, the brick houses on both 
sides of it have been loop-holed. The place is a regular 
death-trap.” 

“ Do you mean to say that in this short time they have 
prepared a position impregnable to our whole force ? ” asked 
Mr Burgrave incredulously. 

“ Quite possibly, but that isn’t the question. Their num- 
bers are practically unlimited; ours are not. I should be 
glad if you and I could come to an understanding at once. 
We are not here to exhibit feats of arms, but to keep the 
flag flying until we can be relieved, and to protect the un- 
fortunate women and children down below there. Nothing 
would please me better than to lead an assault on the house 
yonder, but who’s to defend the fort when the butcher’s bill 
is paid ? If we had only ourselves to consider, I might cut 
my way out with the troops, and make a historic march to 
Kahmat-Ullah, but with the non-combatants it would be 
impossible. You see this? — or perhaps you don’t see it, 
but I do. Well, are we to work together, or not?” 

“You are asking me to subordinate my judgment to 
» yours?” 

“Politically, you are supreme here. From a military 
point of view ” 

“ You think you ought to be ? Considering the office I 
hold, doesn’t that strike you as rather a large order ? ” 

“Would you propose to occupy an independent and 
superior position from which to criticise my measures ? 
Surely you must see that is out of the question? You 
may be Commissioner for the province, but I am com- 
mandant of this fort, and the troops are under my orders. 


174 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


The conclusion is pretty obvious, isn’t it? In such a 
situation as this, a single head is essential, and there must 
be no hint of divided counsels. You and I have both got 
everything we prize in the world at stake here. Can we 
squabble over our relative positions in face of what lies 
before us?” 

“ The question would come more gracefully from me to 
you, in the circumstances,” said Mr Burgrave, “but I see 
your point. Let it be understood that the conduct of all 
military operations is vested in you, then. I reserve, of 
course, the right of private criticism, and of offering 
advice.” 

“ And of putting the blame on me if things go wrong ! ” 
thought Colonel Graham, but he was too wise to give 
utterance to the remark. “Do you care to make the 
round of the defences with me?” he asked. “I should 
like to see how the new brickwork stands this deluge.” 

As they emerged from the shelter of the tower into the 
rainy dusk, they were met by Fitz, who, like the other 
civilians in the place, had enrolled himself as a volunteer. 
When he first spoke, his voice was inaudible, owing to a 
rushing, roaring sound which fiUed the air. 

“ Why, what’s this ? ” shouted the Colonel. 

“The canal, sir,” answered Fitz, as loudly. “Winlock 
sent me to ask you to come and look at it.” 

“ Is it in flood ? Can the reservoir have burst ? ” 

“We think the enemy have opened the sluices. The 
dead body of a white man was washed down just now. 
We saw it, though we couldn’t reach it, and some one said 
it was Western, who was in charge at the canal works.” 

The Colonel and Mr Burgrave hurried along the rampart, 
sheltered from the enemy’s fire by the gathering darkness, 
to the rear wall of the fort, the base of which was washed 
by the canal. The canal itself was part of the great system 
of irrigation-works by means of which, as the Commissioner 
had once complained. General Keeling had made Khemistan. 
A huge reservoir was constructed in the hills to receive the 
torrents of water which rushed down every ravine after a 
storm, and which, after carrying ruin and destruction in 
their path, ran fruitlessly to waste. By means of sluices 
the outflow was regulated with the minutest care, and the 
precious water husbanded so jealously that even in the 


TO KEEP THE FLAG FLYING. 


175 


hottest seasons it was possible to supply the canal which, 
with its many effluents, had converted the immediate sur- 
roundings of Alibad from a sandy waste into a garden. 
In view of the possible necessity of coping with an 
occasional rush of water, the banks were artificially raised, 
and the one opposite the south-west angle of the fort, where 
the canal took a sudden bend, had been strengthened to a 
considerable height with masonry, to protect the cultivated 
land beyond it from inundation. This change in its course 
largely increased the force of the current at this point. 

After a storm the placid canal always became a rushing 
torrent, on account of the accessions it received after leaving 
the reservoir, but none of those in the fort had ever seen 
it rise to the height it had reached on the present occasion. 
Colonel Graham uttered an exclamation of dismay when he 
looked out over the turbid stream, which seemed to be 
flung back from the opposite bank against the fort wall with 
even increased violence. Presently there was a lull in the 
storm, and by the aid of a lantern, which was lowered from 
the rampart, he was able to see that the current was actually 
scouring away the lower courses of the wall. The next 
moment the lantern was violently swept from the hand of 
the man who held the cord, as another rush of water came 
swirling round the tower at the angle of the wall, dashing 
its spray into the faces of the watchers. Every one of them 
felt the wall shake under the blow, and there was a murmur 
of uneasiness. Colonel Graham recovered himself first. 

“Turn out aU the servants and coolies, Winlock,” he 
said, “ and shore up the wall with props and sand-bags as 
far as possible. We wHl stay here and watch whether the 
water rises any higher. It’s clear they hope that this south 
curtain will go,” he added to Mr Burgrave, “and that then 
they will only have to walk in.” 

“They must have a clever head among them,” said the 
Commissioner ; “ for they are evidently letting the water out 
a little at a time.” 

“ Ah, that’s the native engineer, no doubt. They would 
keep him alive to manage the machinery for them when 
they murdered poor Western. Look out, here’s another ! ” 

Again the wall trembled perceptibly, but by this time the 
courtyard was full of eager workers, piling up earth and 
stones and beams and bags of sand, and anything else that 


176 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


could be found. Presently the Colonel called out to them 
to stop, for there was now the danger that the wall might 
fall outwards instead of inwards, and they waited in un- 
willing idleness, while the two men on the rampart watched 
the current anxiously, and measured the distance of its 
surface from the parapet. Then came a more violent rush 
of water than any before, and to Colonel Graham and Mr 
Burgrave the wall seemed to rock backwards and forwards 
under them. When they looked into each other’s faces 
once more, they could scarcely believe that it was still 
standing. 

“That’s the last, evidently,” said the Colonel, “a final 
effort. The water’s getting lower already. We’re safe for 
to-night, but if they had only had the patience to wait till 
this rain was over, we could never have stood the force of 
water they could have turned on. And as it is, a child’s 
popgun might almost account for this bit of wall now.” 


CHAPTER XV. 


“the old first heroic lessons.” 

“Why, Mrs North ! ” Disturbed in his task of supervising 
the proceedings of a nervous native assistant, whose mind 
was less occupied with his dispensing than with the bullets 
which flattened themselves occasionaUy upon the pavement 
outside the surgery. Dr Tighe had turned suddenly to find 
Georgia at his elbow. “ Can I do anything for you ? ” he 
asked kindly, looking with professional disapproval at her 
pale face and weary eyes. 

“ I want you to let me help you in the hospital.” 

“ And I thought you were a sensible woman ! Will you 
tell me if you call this wise, now % ” 

“ I think it would help me to have something to do.” 

“ But not this. What am I to say to the Major when — 
if — when I see him again, if you overtask your strength % ” 

“ I see you think I am mad,” she said earnestly, “ but I 
Tcnow he is alive. But the suspense is so dreadful, doctor. 
It’s certain that he is wounded, and I can scarcely doubt he 
is a prisoner ; and what may be happening to him at any 
moment ? It is killing me, and I must live — for both their 
sakes.” The doctor nodded quickly. “ And I thought if I 
could do something to help those who were suffering as 
he is, it might — oh, I don’t know — it might make me tired 
enough to sleep again.” 

“ A good idea ! ” said Dr Tighe, in his most matter-of-fact 
tones. “ You shall relieve me of half my dressings, by all 
means, and I’ll turn over to you the out-patient work among 
these unfortunate women and children. You can leave that 
dispensing, Babu ” — the assistant, who had been listening 
for the thud of the bullets, started violently — “ and go round 
the wards with the Memsahib.” 

From his own cases on the opposite side of the improvised 
wards Dr Tighe glanced across at Georgia several times, re- 


178 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


marking with approval that her face and figure were losing 
their look of utter weariness as she went about her work. 
She was giving her whole mind to it, that was evident, and 
for the time her own anxiety was pushed into the back- 
ground. The number of patients to be treated was con- 
siderable, for besides the men who had been wounded at 
the fight in the Akrab Pass, there were a good many casual- 
ties due to the enemy’s fire since the siege had begun. The 
work was therefore heavy, but as soon as the dressings were 
finished Dr Tighe bustled up to Georgia and pointed out a 
new opening for her energies. 

“The Colonel wants sacks made — millions of ’em — for 
sand-bags,” he said. “ He was at his wits’ end about it this 
morning, tried to get the native women to sew them, and 
they wouldn’t.” 

“ Oh, why didn’t he ask us ? ” cried Georgia. “ We would 
have worked our fingers to the bone.” 

“ I’m sure you would, and it’s likely he’d ask it of you, 
isn’t it ? But why all the refugees should have board and 
lodging given them free, I don’t know. Why, they wouldn’t 
even make the sacks for payment ! A lot of them said they 
couldn’t sew, and the rest seemed to think they were being 
persecuted when they were asked to do it. But you know 
how to get round them, Mrs North. We can’t very well say 
that if a woman doesn’t sew a sack a day out she goes — 
sounds a bit brutal — but you’ll manage to set them to work, 
I’m sure. I’ll tell Colonel Graham you’ve taken the matter 
in hand, and he’ll be for ever grateful.” 

Unpromising though the task seemed, Georgia succeeded 
in finding six women who consented to sew if the Memsahibs 
would do so too, and a working-party was organised in the 
little courtyard, from which Mr Hardy and the men-servants 
were rigorously banished for the time. Since the need of 
sand-bags — at any rate in such numbers — had not been fore- 
seen, the proper material was lacking, but all the tents in 
the fort were promptly requisitioned, and their canvas 
utilised. The regimental tailors cut out the sacks, deliver- 
ing them into the charge of Rahah, and inside the court- 
yard Mrs Hardy and Georgia superintended the unskilled 
workers, while Flora and Mabel took a pride in proving 
their willingness to blister their fingers for their country. 
It was fortunate that fine needlework was not required, for 


179 


‘‘THE OLD FIRST HEROIC LESSONS.” 

the native women’s ideas of sewing were rudimentary in the 
extreme, but their two instructresses succeeded at last in 
convincing them, by precept and example, that to sew one 
side only of a seam was unnecessary as a decoration and 
not calculated materially to further the usefulness of a sack. 
When this lesson had been sufficiently impressed upon the 
pi:!pils, Georgia sat down in the doorway of her room to 
divide the pice which Colonel Graham had entrusted to her 
for distribution among them. The sun was setting over the 
hill beyond the fort, and the women, as they sat cross-legged 
on the floor, seized the fact that the light was in their eyes 
as an excuse for turning round to gaze greedily at the money 
which Georgia was apportioning on a chair. Suddenly there 
was a whizz and a noisy clatter. A bullet had grazed 
Georgia’s hand and struck the chair, sending the coins 
flying, and it was followed by a burst of firing, which 
caused the terrified workwomen to drop their sacks and ex- 
claim with one voice that they were dead. 

“ Down ! down ! ” cried Georgia, setting the example her- 
self, “and crawl round to the other verandah. They are 
firing from the hill, but they won’t be able to see us there.” 

Dragging with her one woman who was paralysed with 
fright, she induced the others to follow her, and when they 
were out of the line of fire, proceeded to examine the terrific 
wounds from which one and all declared themselves to be 
Buffering. Curiously enough, no one was badly hurt. Two 
had scratches, and one a nasty bruise from a ricochet shot, 
but of severe injuries there were none. Georgia dressed the 
wounds and comforted the sufferers with one or two pice 
extra, and then sent them back to their own quarters, thus 
allowing admittance to Colonel Graham, Mr Hardy, the 
Commissioner, and Fitz, who had been informed by the 
horrified servants that the enemy were firing into the 
Memsahibs’ courtyard. Their anxiety raised to the highest 
pitch by the shrieks from within, the four gentlemen were 
held at bay in the passage by the heroic Rahah, who in- 
formed them that they must pass over her body before they 
should break the pardah of the women assembled under her 
mistress’s protection. Just as they were at last admitted a 
cry from behind made them look round, to see an unfortu- 
nate water-carrier who had been passing along the rampart 
falling into the courtyard. 


180 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“We must get up a parados on that side,” said Colonel 
Graham, when the wounded man had been sent to the 
hospital. “They command the inside of the wholo east 
curtain from that hill. Your sand-bags will be made useful 
sooner than we expected, Mrs North.” 

“ But what is to happen to us ? ” cried Mabel. “ Are we 
to stay here to be shot at ? ” 

“Calm yourself, my dear girl,” said Mr Burgrave, in 
gently reproving tones. “You are in no danger at the 
present moment.” 

“You see. Miss North,” said the Colonel, “I don’t want 
to have to put you either in the hospital courtyard or 
among the native refugees, and there is nowhere else. 
After all, this court is so small that the enemy can’t possibly 
command more than the east side, and we’ll put that right 
by hanging curtains along the verandah.” 

“ Why, what good would that be against bullets 1 ” 

“The curtain wouldn’t stop them, certainly, but our 
friends up there are very careful of their ammunition, and 
never waste a shot. Not being able to see whether any one 
is in the verandah, they won’t aim at it. It was the sight 
of a whole party assembled here that was irresistible.” 

“ But is Georgia to live in darkness ? ” demanded Georgia’s 
self-constituted champion. 

“Nonsense, Mab ! There are three other verandahs to 
sit in. After all, one expects bullets in a siege,” said 
Georgia. 

“ That’s the right spirit, Mrs North,” said Colonel Graham 
heartily. “As soon as it’s dusk we’ll have the matting up 
from the club-house— messroom, I mean — floor, and nail it 
along the roof of this verandah and across the corner where 
the passage is. Then you’ll be safe from anything but 
chance shots, and those, I’m afraid, we can none of us 
guard against.” 

“But are those fellows up there to pot at the ladies 
without our ever having a chance to pay them back, sir ? ” 
cried Fitz. 

“ I was coming to that. Of course the plan is to clear 
us off the east rampart so that a force from the town may 
rush it under cover of the fire from the hill, and therefore 
the parados must be our first care. Still, I think we can 
spare a few sand-bags for the two western towers, and if 


THE OLD FIRST HEROIC LESSONS. 


181 


u 


we arrange a little sangar on the top of each when it is 
dark, we can show our chivalrous friends the snipers to- 
morrow what it feels like to be sniped. Tell Winlock to 
set all the servants to work filling bags and baskets, and 
anything else they can find, with earth at once.” 

“We seem to hold our own fairly well at present,” said 
Mr Burgrave, as Fitz departed, and the Colonel stood looking 
narrowly at the threatened verandah and the scattered 
work-materials with which it was strewn. 

“ We seem to — yes, but it is simply because we have not 
been tried as yet. There is far too great a length of wall 
for us to hold against a well-planned attack — say from two 
sides at once. Why they haven’t put us to the test before 
I can’t imagine. It’s not like their usual tactics to let 
things drag on in this way.” 

“I am of opinion that they dislike crossing the cleared 
space, and intend to remain at a discreet distance and 
starve us out. If only they stick to that, we ought to be 
relieved long before matters come to a crisis.” 

“No, it’s not that!” cried the Colonel irritably. “There’s 
something behind that we don’t see. If there was any 
possibility of their having guns, I should say they were 
waiting for them. But where are they to get them from 
unless they have surprised Eahmat-Ullah, which we have 
no reason to suppose? They have some dodge on hand, 
though, I’m certain.” 

“ Is there any weak point at which they could be aiming ? ” 

“ Man, this place is nothing but weak points. If those 
fellows on the hill knew what they were about, they could 
enfilade our north and south ramparts as well as cover the 
eastern one. The south curtain is so weak now that an 
elephant or a battering-ram — let alone a well-planted shell 
or two — could knock it over, and the canal on that side is 
getting lower every day. The water-carriers have to go 
down a dozen steps now, and it’s only the enemy’s fear for 
their own precious skins that prevents their picking them 
off from the opposite bank. We could pepper them from 
the rampart, they know that, and they haven’t the sense to 
pour in an oblique fire from the hill. I suppose, too, it 
hasn’t occurred to you that if they took it into their heads 
to blow us up, one or two plucky fellows could get close up 
to the walls under cover of a general attack, and lay a train 


182 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


at their leisure. It’s impossible to fire transversely from 
the loopholes in the towers without exposing pretty nearly 
one’s whole body, and as to depressing a rifle and firing 
point-blank down from the parapet, well ” 

Mr Burgrave understood the pause to mean that the 
consequences would probably be very uncomfortable for the 
holder of the rifle, and said no more. The night passed 
without further alarm, save that Georgia found it would be 
dangerous to have a light in her rooms unless door and 
shutters were both closed. The glimmer from the window, 
even when only seen through the matting curtain, attracted 
two or three bullets immediately, and it was evident that the 
choice must be made between air and light. During the 
hours of darkness the besieged worked hard at their de- 
fences, and succeeded in erecting a more or less effectual 
shelter along the inside of the east rampart, and also a 
sand-bag parapet at the summit of the two western towers. 
The gateway turrets on the north-east, which were now 
exposed to the fire from the hill in the rear as well 
as to that from General Keeling’s house in front, were 
strengthened in the same way. Behind these shelters the best 
marksmen of the garrison took up their posts, and as soon as 
the bullets began to fly from the hiU, seized the opportunity 
of pointing out to the enemy that the state of tMngs had 
altered to some extent in the night. Since it was impossible 
for a man on either side to fire without exposing himself 
slightly, a return shot was the instant comment on this im- 
prudence, and hence, before the morning was over, both 
parties were lying low and glaring at their opponents* 
sangars, ready to shoot but not caring to be shot. Helmets 
on the one side and turbans on the other, raised cautiously 
on rifle-barrels above the breastwork, drew a few shots, but 
the nature of the trick was quickly perceived by both 
parties, and the sniping continued to languish. 

“ Their rifles seem to carry as far as ours,” remarked Mr 
Burgrave to Colonel Graham. 

“ So they ought,” was the grim reply. “ Most of them, if 
not aU, are ours. They are stolen and smuggled wholesale into 
Ethiopia, and Bahram Khan has borrowed them to arm his 
followers with. That’s how they manage to give us so much 
trouble. In the matchlock days, when this place was built, 
we could have laughed at their shooting from the hill. ” 


“THE OLD mST HEROIC LESSONS.” 183 

“What is that?” said the Commissioner suddenly, 
putting up his eye-glass ; “ a pile of cannon-balls ? It was 
not there last night.” 

They were standing in one of the gateway turrets, and 
the heap to which he pointed was visible upon the cleared 
space, in front of the entrance to a lane between two of the 
houses occupied by the enemy. Colonel Graham laid down 
his field-glass with an exclamation of disgust. 

“ Cannon-balls ! It’s head % — human heads — heads of 
our men. Those fiends have surprised one of our posts 
— Sultanibagh probably, beyond Shah Nawaz. I tele- 
graphed to the Jemadar in charge to retire upon Rahmat- 
Ullah, as there was no chance of their getting here safely, 
but the wires must have been cut before they got the 
message, or else the men have been ambushed on their way. 
Well, Bahram Khan has put himself beyond the pale of 
mercy this time, even with our Government, I should 
imagine.” 

As the light grew stronger the sickening trophy was per- 
ceived from other parts of the fort, and the men of the 
Khemistan Horse began to become impatient. It appeared 
that a deserter had ventured close under the walls in the 
night, in order to taunt the garrison with some unexplained 
reverse, the nature of which was now made manifest. They 
were asked how long Sinjaj Kilin’s sowars had been content 
to hide behind stone walls, instead of coming out to fight 
on horseback in the open, and a variety of interesting and 
savoury information was added as to the precise nature of the 
tortures in store for all, whether officers or men, who fell 
into Bahram Khan’s hands. To the men who had so long 
dominated the frontier, this abuse was intolerably galling, 
and the troopers were gathering in corners with sullen 
faces, and asking one another why they were kept back 
from washing out the disgrace in blood. They had now 
been in the fort the best part of a week, no attack in force 
had been made, and yet there had not been the slightest 
attempt to drive off the enemy or inflict any loss upon him. 
Eessaldar Badullah Khan voiced this feeling to Colonel 
Graham a little later, when the Colonel had passed with a 
judicious lack of apparent notice the scowling groups of 
men who were discussing the state of affairs. 

“ Our faces are black, sahib,” said the native officer, in 


184 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


response to the question put to him. “ Bahram Khan and 
his hadmashes laugh at our beards, and we are pent up here 
like women. We are better men than they — we have 
proved it in every fight since first Sinjaj Kilin Sahib raised 
the regiment — why then (so say the sowars) is it forbidden 
to us to issue forth with our horses, and sweep the base- 
born rabble outside from the face of the earth ? ” 

“ Is the regiment complaining of the course I choose to 
take, Kessaldarl” 

“ Nay, sahib ; the sowars say that it is the will of the 
Kumpsioner Sahib which is being done.” 

“They are wrong. It is mine. What could the regi- 
ment do on horseback in the streets of the town, with the 
enemy firing from roofs and loopholes? We have not a 
man too many in the fort now, aiid yet, Ressaldar, I antici- 
pate a sortie in force before long, though not in review 
order.” 

The Ressaldar’s eyes gleamed. “ May the news be told 
to the regiment, sahib ? ” he asked. 

“ Could they refrain from shouting it to the next man 
who taunts them? No, Ressaldar; tell them to trust me 
as they have always done hitherto. There will be work to 
be done before many days, but I cannot set mutinous men 
to do it.” 

Badullah Khan went out, meeting Woodworth on the 
threshold. 

“ Would you mind coming up to the north-western tower, 
sir?” asked the adjutant, when he had closed the door. 
“ The enemy seem to be doing something in that direction 
which I can’t quite make out.” 

“What sort of thing?” asked Colonel Graham, rising. 

“I would rather not give an opinion until you have 
seen what there is to see, sir,” was the reply, so unwontedly 
cautious that the Colonel prepared for a heavy blow. 
Woodworth followed him up the narrow winding stairs 
in silence, and pointed to the stretch of desert on the 
northern side of the town, across which two long strings of 
men and animals were slowly passing in a westerly direc- 
tion. The Colonel started, examined the moving objects 
through his field-glass, and called to his orderly — 

“ Ask Beltring Sahib to come here at once.” 

Almost before Beltring, breathless, had mounted the 


“THE OLD FIRST HEROIC LESSONS.” 185 

staircase, he was greeted by a question. “Beltring, are 
there any guns at Nalapur?” 

“No, sir. At least, there are two old field-pieces in 
front of the palace, but that’s all.”. 

“ Are they in working order ? ” 

“ They use them for firing salutes, sir, not for anything 
else, I believe.” 

“ Still, that shows they are safe to work, and here they 
are. Where will they mount them, should you say, Wood- 
worth 1 ” 

“ On the hill, sir. The slope on the far side is compara- 
tively easy for getting them up.” 

“ True, and from the brow there they could knock the 
place about our ears in a couple of hours. At all costs we 
must keep them from getting the range to-day. They will 
have no range-finders, that’s one good thing, and if we can 
secure a night’s respite, it’ll be a pity if we don’t make 
good use of it. Tell our marksmen to fire at anything 
they see moving up there. Those guns must not be placed 
in position before sunset. And then tell all the other 
officers and volunteers to meet me on the south rampart 
immediately.” 

The council of war which assembled on the rampart, 
sheltered by the south-western tower, was sufficiently in- 
formal to make the hair of any stickler for military etiquette 
stand on end, but its proceedings were absolutely practical. 
The Colonel, beside whom stood Mr Burgrave, stated the 
situation briefly. 

“ You have seen the two guns which the enemy intend 
to mount on the hill there. Once they get them into posi- 
tion and find our range, we may as well retire into the 
vaults and wait until we are smoked out, for there is no 
possible shelter above ground. With our small force it is 
hopeless to detach a party to sally out and capture the 
guns in the open — more especially since the enemy hold 
the town between us and them. Still, they have plenty 
to do in getting the guns across the canal and dragging 
them up the hill, and we must make it our business to 
prevent them from opening fire to-day, and to-night those 
guns must be taken. I propose to leave the Commissioner 
in charge of the fort, with ten of his own Sikhs and fifty 
sowars under Ressaldar Ghulam Rasul. Every civilian who 


186 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


can hold a weapon must also do duty. I shall take a 
hundred and fifty dismounted sowars and thirty Sikhs, 
with all the enrolled volunteers, and make a dash for 
the hill under cover of darkness. If we succeed, we shall 
have averted a great danger; if we fail, the fort will be 
no worse off than if we had hung about and done nothing. 
I am confident that the Commissioner will fight to the 
end, and not allow himself to be tempted by any offer of 
terms.” 

“ Know the beggars too well,” said Mr Burgrave laconi- 
cally. 

“That’s the main scheme; now for details. To reach 
the hill, the canal must be crossed in any case. The 
most obvious plan would undoubtedly be for the force 
to rendezvous silently in the shadow of the west curtain, 
traverse the irrigated land, and restore the bridge at the 
foot of the hill sufficiently to cross by it. But the enemy 
could sweep the whole route from their positions both in 
the town and on the hill, and they will be very much on 
the alert to-night. My idea is to cross the canal here from 
the water-gate, and march the first part of the distance 
along the bank, so as to come upon the enemy from the 
side he won’t expect us. He knows we have neither boat 
nor bridge, and the water is still deep enough along the 
wall to be impassable to any but good swimmers.” 

“Then how do you propose to cross?” asked Mr Bur- 
grave. 

“ There I must invite suggestions. We have no time for 
building boats or bridges, and the water-gate offers no 
facilities for it either. A raft, possibly. What do you 
think, Runcorn?” 

“A raft supported on inflated skins, sir?” asked the 
engineer officer. “ That might be practicable, but it would 
have to be very small, for the passage to the gate is so 
narrow that all the materials must be taken to the water’s 
edge separately and put together there. There is no 
standing-ground of any sort but the wretched shaky steps 
that the water-carriers use, so that we can’t well lower 
things from the wall.” 

“And the time spent in ferrying the force over would be 
interminable, not to mention the risk of discovery by the 
enemy,” said Colonel Graham. 


187 


“THE OLD FIRST HEROIC LESSONS/' 

His subordinates looked at one another. Various sug- 
gestions had been hazarded and rejected, when a hesitating 
voice made itself heard. The speaker was Mr Hardy, who 
had joined the group a few minutes earlier, with a message 
to the Colonel from one of the wounded ofl&cers in the 
hospital. 

“ In my Oxford days,” he said, “ I remember a pleasant 
walk through the meadows — ” His hearers gasped. Why 
should these peaceful recollections be obtruded at such a 
moment 1 “ There was one point at which the path crossed 

a considerable stream, and a punt that ran on wires was 
placed there. I’m afraid I am not very intelligible,” he 
smiled nervously. “I can’t describe the mechanism in 
technical language, but the punt was fastened to one wire, 
and the other was free and moved on pulleys, so that you 
could pull yourself across, or draw the punt towards you if 
it happened to be at the opposite bank.” 

“ Padri,” said Colonel Graham, “ it’s clear that you are 
an unsuspected mechanical genius. This is the very thing 
we want, though we must use rope instead of wire.” 

“ But we have even got that, sir,” said Kuncorn eagerly. 
“ Timson was boasting that he had saved all the stores of 
his department — miles of telegraph wire amongst them. 
Now he’ll have to disgorge.” 

“ Then will you set about the construction of the ferry, 
Runcorn ? You can’t begin work on the spot until night, 
but you can get your materials ready. Requisition any- 
thing you want, of course.” 

“ May we make a suggestion, sir 1 ” said Fitz Anstruther, 
coming forward with Winlock as the council broke up. 
Signals of intelligence had been passing between the two 
for some time, and they had held a whispered consultation 
while the ferry was being discussed. 

“ Why, what plot have you on hand 1 ” 

It was Winlock who answered. “We thought that it 
might make aU the difference to your success, sir, if a 
diversion could be arranged to distract the enemy’s atten- 
tion. We two know every foot of these hills from chikor- 
shooting, and if we might pick out a dozen or so of the 
sowars who have constantly gone with us out hunting as 
beaters, we could make a sham attack. We know of a 
splendid place on the side of a hill, inaccessible from below, 


188 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


which commands the camp of the hostile tribes, and we 
thought if we sent up a signal rocket or two, to be an- 
swered from the fort, and then poured in as many volleys 
as there was time for, it might make a good impression. 
Of course, as soon as they try to get round us and rush the 
hill, we must retire, to keep them from finding out how few 
we are ; but the main force ought to have settled the guns 
by that time, and we might rendezvous on the hill and 
march back together.” 

“ It sounds feasible,” said the Colonel slowly ; “ but how 
do you propose to cross the canal ? ” 

“We don’t mean to cross it in going, sir. Anstruther 
says we can clamber along the base of this wall from the 
water-gate round the south-western tower, so as to get on 
to dry land under the west curtain.” 

“I know it’s possible, sir,” said Fitz eagerly. “I’ve 
done it more than once when the canal was low, and it’ll 
be easier now that the bricks are so much washed away. 
And of course we shall be very careful in crossing the 
irrigated land — all of us in khaki, you see, and taking 
advantage of every bit of cover — and unless we run right 
into one of the enemy’s outposts, I don’t see how they are 
to spot us. And think of the benefit it will be to have 
their attention distracted from your movement ! ” 

“You realise that you are taking your lives in your 
hands *? You will probably have to swim the canal higher 
up to join us, and, after all, we may not be able to wait for 
you. Your men will be volunteers, of course *? They must 
understand that it’s a desperate business.” 

“Yes, sir; but they’ll come like a shot. They’ve been 
out with us after markhor, and we’ve been in some tight 
places in the mountains. May we have what rockets we 
want ? ” 

“ By all means. Good luck go with you ! I wish I was 
coming too ! ” 

“ That’s really handsome of the C.O.,” said Fitz, dodging 
a bullet as he clattered down the stairs into the courtyard 
with Winlock. “ Grand firework display to-night ! "V^at 
>- pity that the ladies and all the refugees can’t have front 
seats on the ramparts to watch the tanmsha / ” 


CHAPTER XVI. 


THE DARKEST HOUR. 

** Sahib, there is a man under the wall on the east side.” 

“ How did he come there ? ” demanded Colonel Graham 
angrily. “ What are the sentries doing ? ” 

“ The night is so dark, sahib, that he crept up unnoticed. 
He is the holy mullah Aziz-ud-Din, and desires speech with 
your honour.” 

“ The Amir’s mullah ? You are sure of it ? ” 

“ I know his voice, sahib. He is holding his hands on 
high, to show that he has no weapons.” 

“ I suppose we may as well see what he has to say,” said 
the Colonel to Mr Burgrave, with whom he had been 
making final arrangements, and the two men climbed the 
steps to the east rampart. Once there, and looking over 
into the darkness, it was some little time before their eyes 
could distinguish the dim figure at the foot of the wall. 

“ Peace ! ” said Colonel Graham. 

“ It is peace, sahib. I bear the words of the Amir Ashraf 
Ali Khan. He says, ‘ It is now out of my power to save 
the lives of the sahibs, and I wiU not deceive them, knowing 
that a warrior’s death amid the ruins of their fortress wiU 
please them better than to fall into the hands of my thrice- 
accursed nephew, who has stolen the hearts of my soldiers 
from me. But this I can do. The houses next to the canal 
on this side of the fort are held by my own bodyguard, 
faithful men who have eaten of my salt for many years, 
and I have there six swift camels hidden. Let the Mem- 
sahibs be entrusted to me, especially those of the household 
of my beloved friend Nath Sahib, and I will send them at 
once to Nalapur, where they shall be in sanctuary in my 
own palace, and I will swear — I who kept my covenant 
with the Sarkar until the Sarkar broke it — that death shall 
befall me before any harm touches them.’ ” 

189 


190 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Why is this message sent to-night?” asked Colonel 
Graham. 

“ Because Bahram Khan is preparing a great destruction, 
sahib, and the heart of Ashraf Ali Khan bleeds to think 
that the houses of his friends Sinjaj Kilin Sahib and Nath 
Sahib should both be blotted out in one day.” 

“ Carry my thanks and those of the Commissioner Sahib 
to Ashraf Ali Khan, but tell him that the Memsahibs will 
remain with us. Their presence would only place him in 
greater danger, and he would not be able to protect them. 
But we can. They will not fall into the han^ of Bahram 
Khan.” 

“It is well, sahib.” The faint blur which represented 
the messenger melted into the surrounding blackness, and 
Colonel Graham turned to his companion. 

“ It wiU be your business to see to that, if the enemy 
break in. Haycraft comes with me. We must leave Flora 
in your charge. Don’t let her fall into their hands, any 
more than Miss North.” 

“ I promise,” said Mr Burgrave, and their hands met in 
the darkness. 

“ Thanks. I think we have settled everything now. We 
don’t start for an hour yet, and if you like to explain things 
to Miss North ” 

“I should prefer to say nothing unless the necessity 
arises.” 

“ I never thought of your going into details, but she must 
know something, surely? Flora will learn the state of 
affairs from Haycraft; Mrs North will pick it up from the 
Hardys and her ayah, and Miss North wiU probably 
expect But please yourself, of course.” 

“I will go and talk to her for a little while. I have 
scarcely seen her all day.” 

Mr Burgrave’s tone was constrained. It seemed to him 
almost impossible to meet Mabel at this crisis, and abstain 
from any allusion to the terrible duty which had just been 
laid upon him. He was not an imaginative man, and no 
forecast of the scene burned itself into his brain, as would 
have been the case with some people, but the oppression of 
anticipation was heavy upon him. For him the dull horror 
in his mind overshadowed everything, and it was with a 
shock that he found Mabel to be in one of her most viva- 


THE DAKKEST HOUR. 


191 


clous and aggressive moods. She was walking up and 
down the verandah outside her room as if for a wager, 
turning at each end of the course with a swish of draperies 
which sounded like an angry breeze, and she hailed his 
arrival with something like enthusiasm, simply because he 
was some one to talk to. 

“Flora is crying on Fred’s — I mean Mr Hay craft’s — 
shoulder somewhere,” she said; “and Mrs Hardy and 
Georgia are having a prayer-meeting with the native 
Christians. They wanted me to come too ; but I don’t feel 
as if I could be quiet, and I shouldn’t understand, either. 
What is going to happen, really ? ” 

“ The Colonel proposes to make a sortie and capture the 
two guns which the enemy have brought up. There is, I 
trust, every prospect of his succeeding.” 

Mabel stamped her foot. “ Why can’t you tell me the 
truth, instead of trying to sugar things over*?” she de- 
manded. “ It would be much more interesting.” 

“You must allow me to decide what is suitable for you 
to hear,” said Mr Burgrave, his mind still so full of that 
final duty of his that he spoke with a serene indifference 
which Mabel found most galling. 

“ I don’t allow you to do anything of the sort. I wish 
you wouldn’t treat me as if I was a baby. It’s like telling 
me yesterday that all the fresh milk in the place was to be 
reserved for us women and the wounded, as if I wanted to 
be pilloried as a lazy, selfish creature, doing nothing and 
demanding luxuries ! ” 

“ My dear little girl, I am sure there isn’t a man in the 
garrison who would consent to your missing any comfort 
that the place can furnish.” 

“ That’s just it. I want to feel the pinch — to share the 
hardships. But of course you don’t understand — you never 
do.” She stopped and looked at him. “ I don’t know how 
it is, Eustace, but you seem somehow to stir up everything 
that is bad in my nature. I could die happy if I had once 
shocked you thoroughly.” 

He recoiled from her involuntarily. “ Do you think it is 
a time to joke about death when it may be close upon you?” 
he asked, with some severity. 

“ That sounds as if you were a little shocked,” said Mabel 
meditatively. “ But you know, Eustace, whenever you tell 


192 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


me to do anything — I mean when you express a wish that I 
should do anything — I feel immediately the strongest pos- 
sible impulse to do exactly the opposite.” 

“But the impulse has never yet been translated into 
action?” he asked, with the indulgent smile which was 
reserved for Mabel when she talked extravagantly. 

“ I’m ashamed to say it hasn’t.” 

“Then I am quite satisfied. I can scarcely aspire to 
regulate your thoughts just at present, can I ? But so long 
as you respect my wishes ” 

“ Oh, what a lot of trouble it would save if we were aU 
comfortably killed to-night ! ” cried Mabel, with a sudden 
change of mood. Mr Burgrave was shocked, and showed it. 
“I’m in earnest, Eustace.” 

“ My dear child, you can hardly expect me to believe that 
you would welcome the horrors which the storming of this 
place would entail 1 ” 

“ Oh no ; of course not. You are so horribly literal. 
Can’t you see that my nerves are all on edge ? I do wish 
you understood things. If you won’t talk about what’s 
going to be done to-night, do go away, and don’t stay here 
and be mysterious.” 

“ Dear child, do you think I shall judge you hardly for 
this feminine weakness? You need not be afraid of hurt- 
ing or shocking me. Say anything you like ; I shall put it 
down to the true cause. If your varying moods have 
taught me nothing else, at least I have learnt since our 
engagement to take your words at their proper valuation.” 

“If you pile many more loads of obligation upon me, 
I shall expire ! ” said Mabel sharply, only to receive a kind 
smile in return. Anything more that she might have said, 
in the amiable design of shocking him beyond forgiveness, 
was prevented by the appearance of Mrs Hardy. 

“ Is it true that you are going to arm all the civilians in 
the place, Mr Burgrave?” she demanded of the Com- 
missioner. 

“ It is thought well — merely as a precautionary measure.” 

“ Then I do beg and beseech you to give Mr Hardy a 
rifle that won’t go off, or we shall all be shot.” 

“ We will get the Padri to go round and hand out fresh 
cartridges, instead of giving him a gun,” said Mr Burgrave 
seriously, but Mabel burst into a peal of hysterical laughter, 


THE DARKEST HOUR. 


193 


which was effectual in putting a stop to further conversation, 
and he returned to the outer courtyard, where the men 
chosen for the forlorn hope were mustering in readiness for 
the start. Fitz and Winlock and their small party had left 
already, ojficers and men alike wearing the native grass 
sandals instead of boots, as they had been accustomed to 
do in their hunting expeditions, and it was known that they 
had scrambled along the wall and round the base of the 
south-western tower in safety. The ferry had by this time 
been successfully constructed by Kuncorn and his assistants, 
one of whom had undertaken the very unpleasant task of 
swimming across the ice-cold canal to pass the first wire 
rope round one of the posts which registered the height of 
the water on the opposite bank. Ball ammunition in extra 
quantities was served out to the whole force, for although 
Colonel Graham hoped to confine himself entirely to cold 
steel, for the sake of quietness, he was determined to be 
able to reply to the enemy’s fire, should their attention un- 
fortunately be aroused. The men were marched down in 
parties to the water-gate, and ferried over as quickly as the 
confined space would allow, and when all had crossed, the 
raft was drawn back to the gateway, and the wire dis- 
connected. It had been decided that this was imperative, 
lest the enemy should take advantage of the ferry to cross 
the canal while the attention of the garrison was occupied 
by an attack in front. If the forlorn hope returned vic- 
torious, it would be easy to reconstruct the ferry by throw- 
ing a rope to them from the rampart, while if they were 
compelled to retreat, the raft was so small that to employ 
it under fire would entail a useless sacrifice of life, and the 
fugitives would do better to swim. 

Then began a weary waiting-time for those in the fort. 
The night was moonless, so that it was impossible to dis- 
tinguish any movement, whether on the part of friend or of 
foe. At last a rocket, rising from the cliff which over- 
hung the town on the north-west, and which Fitz and Win- 
lock had indicated as their goal, showed that they, at least, 
had so far been successful. The rocket sent up from the 
fort in reply was answered by another from the cliff, and 
this was immediately followed by the distant sound of brisk 
firing, which seemed to cause considerable perturbation in 
the parts of the town occupied by the enemy. Lights 


194 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


moved about hurriedly from place to place, horns were 
blown, and there was a confused noise of angry shouting. 
The garrison did their best, by opening fire from the wall 
and towers, to increase the effect of the surprise, but with- 
out much hope of hitting anything, for the moving lights 
did not afford very satisfactory targets. In reply, a 
dropping fire broke out from the houses opposite, which 
was maintained for some time, but with little spirit, and 
slackened gradually. Scarcely had Mr Burgrave given the 
order to cease fire, however, when a heavy fusillade was 
heard on the west of the fort, though not from the hill . 
The sound appeared to come from the point at which the 
bridge, now in ruins, had crossed the canal, a point which 
it l^d not hitherto been known that the enemy were 
occupying, and which Colonel Graham had not intended to 
approach. His force should have been far to the left of it 
by this time, and abeady mounting the hill. The most 
probable explanation seemed to be that they had missed 
their way in the darkness, and following the bank of the 
canal too far, had fallen into an ambuscade posted at the 
ruins of the bridge to guard against any attempt to cross 
for the purpose of capturing the guns. The Commissioner 
and his garrison waited and listened in the deepest anxiety, 
straining their eyes to try and perceive, from the flashes of 
the rifles, which way the fight was tending. But the firing 
ceased suddenly, as that on the farther side of the enemy’s 
position had done some time before. There was nothing to 
do but wait. 

Suddenly, after a long interval, a piteous wailing arose at 
the rear of the fort, from the opposite bank of the canal. 
A native stood there, one of the water-carriers who had 
accompanied the force, abjectly entreating to be fetched 
over, since the enemy were at his heels. To employ the 
ferry at such a moment was not to be thought of, but a rope 
was thrown from the steps of the water-gate, and the miser- 
able wretch, plunging in, caught it, and was drawn across. 
He told a terrible tale as he stood dripping and shivering 
in the passage leading to the gate. Colonel Graham’s force 
had been attacked, shortly after leaving the canal-bank, by 
overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who had first poured 
in a withering fire, and then rushed forward to complete 
the destruction with their knives and tulwars. The bhisti 


THE DARKEST HOUR 


195 


himself was the only man who had escaped, and the enemy 
had pursued him to the very edge of the canah The 
sharpest-sighted men in the fort, sent to the rampart to test 
the truth of this statement as far as they could by starlight, 
were obliged to confirm it. There was undoubtedly a large 
body of the enemy on the other side of the canal. They 
were lying down behind the high bank, so as to be sheltered 
from the fire of the garrison. 

“ To cut off fugitives, I suppose,” muttered Mr Burgrave, 
half to himself and half to Ressaldar Ghulam Rasul. 
“That looks as though the massacre were not quite so 
complete as — Hark ! I thought I heard a sound from the 
hill. Can our glorious fellows have made a last dash for it 
after all — some few who escaped 1 ” 

The men on the rampart stood like statues to listen, but 
failed to distinguish anything that might confirm the Com- 
missioner’s surmise. The air seemed full of sound — ^foot- 
falls, a murmur from the town, a stray shot or two from 
the same direction, and on the west a kind of shuffling 
noise. The enemy were taking up their positions for the 
attack. Mr Burgrave sent orders to the guard at the water- 
gate to let the air out of the inflated skins which supported 
the raft, so as to sink it to the level of the water, and this 
was at once done. When he had posted a sentry in the 
passage and another on the rampart above it, he was able 
to leave that side of the fort to defend itself, since the 
enemy had no means of crossing to assail it. To occupy 
the whole range of wall with the absurdly small force at ffls 
disposal was obviously impossible, and he therefore placed 
ten men in each of the larger towers, from which, with the 
usual amount of trouble and risk, a flanking fire could be 
obtained, and twelve in the two gateway turrets, retaining 
the Ressaldar and sixteen men as a reserve, ready to make 
a dash for any point that might be specially threatened. If 
the garrison should be driven from the walls, those who 
escaped were to rush for the hospital, where the women 
and children would take refuge, and the last stand was to 
be made. Having ordered his forces to their stations, the 
Commissioner went the round of the towers to encourage 
the men. His own Sikhs he could deal with well enough, 
but he felt that it was the irony of fate which obliged him 
to urge the sgwars of the Khemistan Horse to show them- 


196 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


selves worthy of their first commander, General Keeling, and 
it seemed as if the same thought had occurred to the men, 
for they scowled at him resentfully when they heard the 
mighty name from his lips. 

The bad news brought by the fugitive spread through 
the fort with astonishing rapidity. The native women, 
whom Georgia had succeeded in soothing into some sort of 
calmness before the departure of the forlorn hope, fiUed the 
air with their wailings, until Ismail Bakhsh, who was head 
of the civilian guard detailed for the defence of the hospital, 
threatened to fire a volley among them if they were not 
quiet. Flora Graham’s ayah was gossiping with a friend 
among these women when the news arrived, and she rushed 
with it at once to her mistress’s room. Poor Flora had 
shut herself up alone to pray for the safety of her father 
and lover, and was following in thought every step of their 
perilous march. She had just reached with them the 
summit of the hill, and rushed upon the guard round the 
guns, when the ayah burst in with the news that the worst 
had happened. The sudden revulsion of feeling was too 
much for Flora. Her usual self-control deserted her, and 
she ran wildly across the courtyard to Georgia’s room. 
Georgia was lying down, talking softly in the dark to 
Mabel, who sat beside her, and both sprang up at Flora’s 
entrance. 

“ What is it ? Have they come back ? ” they demanded, 
with one voice. 

“ No, no ; they are killed — all killed ! Papa and Fred 
both — oh, Mrs North, what can I do?” She dropped 
sobbing on the floor at Georgia’s feet, and buried her face 
in her dress. 

“ Perhaps it isn’t true,” suggested Georgia faintly. She 
had sunk down again on the bed. 

“There’s no hope — one man has come back, the only 
survivor. Both of them at once ! and I was praying for 
them, and I felt so sure — and even while I was praying 
they were being killed.” 

“Is the whole force cut off?” asked Georgia, almost in a 
whisper. 

“All but this one man.” Flora checked her sobs for 
a moment to answer. 

“ Fitz Anstruther too ? ” cried Mabel sharply. 


THE DARKEST HOUR. 


197 


“ All, I tell you ! It doesn’t signify to you, Mab ; you 
have your Eustace left, but I have lost everything. Oh, 
Mrs North, you know how it feels. Help me to bear it.” 

“ Flora dear,” began Georgia, with difficulty. “ I — I can’t 
breathe,” she gasped, struggling to stand up. “ Please ask 
Mrs Hardy to come. I feel so faint. She will understand.” 

Rahah, who had been crouched in the corner as usual, 
sprang up and ran out, returning in a moment with Mrs 
Hardy, who fell upon both girls immediately, and drove 
them out with bitter reproaches. 

“You pair of selfish, thoughtless chatterboxes ! I should 
have thought you had more sense. Flora. Just be off, both 
of you. You can have my rooms for the rest of the night ; 
I shall stay here. Even if all our poor fellows are killed, is 
that any reason for killing Mrs North too?” 

“ Oh, please don’t, Mrs Hardy ! I never thought — 
Mrs North is always so kind, and I am so miserable,” 
sobbed Flora. 

“ You shouldn’t be miserable unless you’re quite certain 
it’s necessary. You wouldn’t believe a native who told you 
he was dead, as they are always doing ; so why should you 
when he says other people are dead ? ” demanded Mrs Hardy, 
with a brilliancy of logic which somehow failed to satisfy. 
“I haven’t a doubt that the hhuti took to his heels in 
a panic at the sound of the first shot, and if he hadn’t 
fortunately been in the rear, the panic might have spread 
to aU the rest. There, go away, do, and don’t cry so. We’ll 
hope all win go well.” 

“ Why have you left your post, doctor?” asked Mr Burgrave, 
meeting Dr Tighe crossing the courtyard. 

“ The hospital will have to look after itself a good deal 
to-night, but I have left the Padri and my Babu in charge 
there. Mrs North is taken ill.” 

“ Good heavens ! It only needed this to make the horror 
of the situation complete.” 

“From our point of view, it may be the best thing 
that could happen. It will make the men fight like demons. 
Here, you girl, where are you going ? ” He had caught the 
shoulder of a veiled woman who ran up and tried to slip 
past him into the passage, but she let her chadar fall aside, 
and disclosed herself as Rahah. 


198 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ I have been telling the men of the regiment, sahib, and 
they have all sworn great oaths that so long as one of them 
has a spark of life left Sinjaj Kilin’s daughter shall not be 
without a protector in her need, and that the corpses of foes 
without and friends within shall be piled as high as the 
ramparts before the enemy shall gain a footing on the wall. 
I told also those in the hospital” — there was a hint of 
malice in Kahah’s voice — “ and every wounded man who can 
sit up in bed is crying out for a gun. They will serve as 
hospital guard, they say, and set Ismail Bakhsh and his 
men free to fight on the walls.” 

“ Good idea, that ! ” said Dr Tighe, turning to the 
Commissioner. “You see how the men take it. Well, 
I shall keep Mrs North in her own quarters if I can, but 
there is a passage through to the hospital courtyard, and 
we must carry her over if it’s necessary. But I don’t think 
it will be, now.” 

Mr Burgrave nodded, and returned to his station on the 
west curtain. Why the enemy did not advance to the 
attack was a mystery. In the opinion of Ghulam Easul 
and his most experienced subordinates, they had moved out 
from their position in the town, and were occupying the 
irrigated land on both sides of the canal in large numbers, 
sheltered against any volley from the walls by the rows 
of trees which marked the lines of the water-courses. They 
could not be seen, nor could it precisely be said that they 
were heard, but as the old soldiers in the garrison said, 
it could be felt that they were there. The situation was 
eerie in the extreme, and Mr Burgrave was unable to find 
comfort in a phenomenon which made his men cheerful in a 
moment. It was the Kessaldar who called his attention to 
it as they stood straining their ears in the attempt to dis- 
tinguish some definite sound in the murmuring silence, and 
at once he himself heard clearly the faint tramp of a galloping 
horse far away to the north-east. 

“ He rides ! ” breathed Ghulam Basul in an ecstasy,''and 
“ He rides ! ” cried the sowar nearest him, catching up the 
words from his lips. “ He rides ! ” went from man to man, 
until the defenders of the towers looked at one another 
with glistening eyes, and even the unsympathetic Sikhs, 
who held themselves loftily aloof from the contemptible 
local superstitions of their Khemi comrades, repeated, with 








THE DARKEST HOUR. 


199 


sometliing of enthusiasm, “ He rides ! ” “ He rides ; all is 

well,” said Ismail Bakhsh, puffing out his chest with pride, 
in his temporary guardroom on the clubhouse verandah. 
“Sinjaj Kilin Sahib is watching over his house and over 
his children. The power of the Sarkar stands firm.” 

All unconscious of the moral reinforcement which was 
doubling the strength of the garrison, Mabel and Flora sat 
disconsolately over the charcoal brazier in Mrs Hardy’s 
room, listening for the sounds of the attack, which they 
expected to hear each moment. Mrs Hardy’s vigorous 
rebuke had nerved them both to put a brave face on 
matters, and for some time they vied with one another in 
discovering reasons for refusing to credit the report of the 
fugitive, and deciding that all might yet be well. But as 
time went on, and there was no sign of the triumphant 
return of Colonel Graham and his force, their valiant efforts 
at cheerfulness flagged perceptibly. Mrs Hardy, running 
across to say that Georgia was doing pretty well, advised 
them to lie down and try to sleep, but they scouted the 
idea with indignation, and still sat looking gloomily into 
the glowing embers and listening to the night wind, which 
wailed round the crazy old buildings in a peculiarly mourn- 
ful manner. 

“Doesn’t it seem absurdly incongruous,” said Mabel at 
last, in a low voice, “that you and I — two jin de siecle 
High School girls, who have taken up all the modern fads 
just like other people — should be sitting here, expecting 
every moment that a band of savages will break in and kill 
us — with swords? It feels so unnatural — so horribly out 
of drawing.” 

“How can you talk such nonsense?” snapped Flora, 
upon whose nerves the strain of suspense was telling 
severely. “I never heard that a High School career pro- 
tected people against a violent death. Do you think it felt 
natural to the women in the Mutiny to be kiUed — or the 
French Revolution, or any time like that ? ” 

“I don’t know. It really seems as if they must have 
been more accustomed to horrors in those days. Just 
imagine. Flora, the little paragraph there will be in the 
South Central Magazine: ‘We regret to record the death 
of Miss Mabel North, O.S.C., who was murdered in the 
late rising on the Indian frontier. Miss Flora Graham, a 


200 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


distinguished student of St Scipio^s College, St Margarets, 
N.B., is believed to have perished on the same sad occasion/ 
Your school paper will have just the same sort of thing in 
it, and the two editors will send each other complimentary 
copies, and acknowledge the courtesy in the next number. 
It wiU all be about you and me — and we shall be dead.” 

“ Of course we shall ; you said that before. But I don’t 
see what good it does to die many times before our deaths.” 

“ How horrid of you to call me a coward ! ” said Mabel 
pensively. 

“I don’t call you anything of the sort. I think you 
must be fearfully brave to look at things in this detached, 
artistic kind of way, but what’s the good of it? Death 
must come when it will come, but naturally no one could 
be expected to look forward with pleasure to the mere fact 
of dying. Unless, of course ” — Flora’s blue eyes shone as 
she turned suddenly from the general to the particular — 
“ my d)dng would save papa or Fred. Then I should be 
glad to die.” 

“ You really mean that you wouldn’t mind being killed 
if somehow it would save either of their lives ? ” 

“ Of course I do, just as you would gladly die to save 
your Eustace.” 

“ But I wouldn’t ! ” cried Mabel involuntarily, then tried 
to minimise the effect of her admission by turning it into 
a joke. “ I think it’s his privilege to do that for me.” 

“ I wish you wouldn’t say that sort of thing ! ” said Flora 
reproachfully. “ Happily there’s no one else to hear it, but 
if I didn’t know you, I should think you were perfectly 
horrid.” 

“ No, Flora, really,” cried Mabel, in a burst of honesty ; 
“I can’t say confidently that there is one person in the 
world I would die for. I feel as if I could die to save 
Georgia, but I don’t know whether I could do it when the 
time came. I used to think that people — English people, 
at any rate — became heroic just as a matter of course when 
danger happened, but now I begin to believe that it depends 
a good deal on what they have been like before.” 

“ You always try to make the worst of yourself.” 

“No, I don’t. I’m trying to look at mjrself as I really 
am. I have never in all my life done a thing I didn’t like 
if I could help it. What sort of preparation is that foi 


THE DARKEST HOUR. 


201 


being heroic? Flora,” with a sudden change of subject, 
“ suppose the enemy had stormed the fort before this even- 
ing, would you have asked your father or Fred to kill you ? ” 

“No,” was the unexpected reply. “It would have been 
so awfuUy hard on them. I keep a revolver in this pocket 
of my coat. You just put it to your eye — and it’s done.” 

“ Oh, I wish I was like you ! I know I should be 
wondering and worrying whether it was right, and all that 
sort of thing, until it was too late to do it.” 

“I don’t care whether it would be right or not,” said 
Flora doggedly. “ I should do it. Do you think I would 
make things worse for papa and Fred, or let them have the 
blame of it if it was wrong 1 ” 

“ I suppose Eustace would do it for me,” drearily. “ He 
would if he thought it was the proper thing. He always 
does the proper thing.” 

“I wish you wouldn’t talk in such a horrid voice. It 
makes me feel creepy. And I don’t think it’s fair to say 
that sort of thing about the Commissioner. He’s perfectly 
devoted to you, and you know it would break his heart to 
have to — do what we were talking about. I don’t believe 
you’re half as fond of him as he is of you.” 

“ Have you found that out now for the first time ? ” 

“ Then it’s a shame ! ” cried Flora. “ Why do you let 
him think you care for him ? He worships you, and you 
pretend ” 

“ I don’t pretend. He took it into his head that I cared 
for him, and wouldn’t let me say I didn’t. And he doesn’t 
worship me. He thinks that I shall make a nice adoring 
sort of worshipper for him when he has got me well in 
hand.” 

“ Well, I think you ought to be ashamed of yourself ! ” 
said Flora crushingly. 

“ You needn’t be horrid. I’m sure I have quite enough 
to bear as it is. What with thinking every morning when 
I wake that I shall have to be pleasant to him whenever he 
chooses to come and talk to me all day, when I should like 
to be at the other end of the world ■” 

“ What do you mean to do when you are married ? ” 

Mabel shivered. “ I don’t know,” she said. “ I rather 
hope we shall be killed instead.” 

“ You needn’t expect to get out of difficulties in that way. 


202 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


If you want to be killed, you are quite sure not to be. And 
to go on living a lie ” 

“ DonH ! ” entreated Mabel. “ Whichever way you look 
at it, it’s dreadful. I don’t know what to do. What’s 
that 1 I’m sure I heard a step.” 

It must have been Mr Burgrave’s evil genius which 
prompted him to present himself at that particular time. 
The enemy had made no movement, and the Commissioner 
thought he might safely leave the wall for a moment, in 
order to obtain a sight of Mabel, and inquire after Georgia. 
He entered the room with a creditable assumption of cheer- 
fulness, which the girls did not even observe. 

How are we getting on ? ” asked Mabel hastily. 

“Oh, well, we must hope for the best,” was the un- 
satisfying answer. In his own mind Mr Burgrave had 
no doubt that the enemy were only waiting for dawn to 
make their attack, and would advance on the fort at the 
same moment that their guns opened fire from the hill. 

“No news yet of the forlorn hope ? ” asked Flora. 

“No news,” he answered, then hesitated with his hand 
on the door, and looked at Mabel. She rose, as if in 
response to his glance, and went out on the verandah with 
him. 

“ Poor little girl ! ” he said, putting his arm round her. 
“This waiting-time is very hard upon you, isn’t it? God 
knows I would give you comfort if I could, but I dare not 
raise false hopes.” 

Mabel freed herself from his clasp. In the dim light 
cast by the brazier through the small window, he could see 
that she was very pale, and that her eyes looked unnatu- 
rally large and dark in the whiteness of her face. “I 
want you to take this back, please,” she said, holding 
out her engagement ring. “ I can’t die with a lie upon 
my soul.” 

“ A lie ! ” he exclaimed, in bewilderment. 

“I don’t love you. Sometimes I think I almost hate 
you,” she replied, in a low, monotonous voice. 

His natural impulse was to take her in his arms and 
crush this latest attempt at rebellion by sheer weight of 
mingled authority and affection, as he had done more than 
once before ; but the words died upon his lips as he looked 
into her face, and he stood irresolute. This was not 


THE DARKEST HOUR. 203 

coquetry, not the wild talk for which he had smiled at 
her that very evening, but desperate earnest. 

“Am I to take this as your own unbiassed wish, MabeH” 
he asked slowly, seeing his world fall in ruins around him 
as he spoke. 

“ Absolutely,” she answered. 

He took the ring from her hand. “It is the kind of 
encouragement that is calculated to nerve a man for the 
fight, isn’t it ” he asked. “ But perhaps some bullet will 
be more merciful than you are.” 

He slipped the ring on his little finger, and taking up 
his crutch, left her without another word. When he re- 
turned to the rampart it struck him, preoccupied though 
he was, that the night was not quite so dark as before. 
Dawn was approaching, and there was a perceptible unrest 
in the direction of the plane trees behind which the enemy 
were posted. As he stood looking round, Ghulam Easul 
approached him from the north curtain. 

“ There is a large body of the enemy advancing towards 
the gate, sahib,” he said. “ They come out of the town, 
and are marching in perfect silence.” 

“ Then they mean to attack us on two sides at once,” 
said the Commissioner. “ Tell the men in the turrets to 
reserve their fire until they are close up, Ressaldar. We 
can’t afford to throw away a shot. Are the reserve all 
under arms % ” 

“All ready, sahib. Your honour can now hear the 
enemy’s approach.” 

They stood waiting and listening. And in that hour of 
awful expectancy, when armed men were advancing on 
all sides upon the sorely pressed fort, Georgia’s boy was 
born. 


CHAPTER Xm 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 

“ What is it, doctor “? ” cried the Commissioner impatiently, 
as Dr Tighe ran up the steps towards him at a most un- 
wonted pace. 

“ It’s a boy — as fine a child as ever I saw in my life — 
and both likely to do well,” was the gasping response. 

“ What in the world do you mean by coming and telling 
me such a thing as that at this moment, sirl” demanded 
Mr Burgrave, whose habitual calmness was fast vanishing 
under the strain of the events of the night. “ Are you 
aware that the enemy will probably be inside the fort in 
a few minutes, and that I am just about to give the order 
to fire 1 ” He leaned over the sand-bags again to listen to 
the tramp of advancing feet. 

“ I tell you, it’ll make all the difference in the world to 
the men ! ” cried the doctor. “ For Heaven’s sake, exhibit 
some interest, even if you don’t feel it, or they will credit 
you with ill- wishing the child.” 

“ Ill-wishing 1 Nonsense ! No one need wish the poor 
little beggar worse luck than to come into the world at such 
a peculiarly inopportune moment.” 

“ Inopportune t Why, he brings good luck with him. 
Doesn’t he, Ressaldar ? ” 

“ It is the best of luck, sahib,” answered Ghulam Rasul, 
with a complacent smile. “ WiU your honour bear the 
salaams of the regiment to the Memsahib, and entreat her 
to name an hour when it will be fitting for a deputation 
representing all ranks to pay their respects to the Baba 
Sahib?” 

“ The fellow talks as though we had a lifetime before us ! ” 
grumbled the Commissioner morosely. “ Surely they are 
within easy range now, Ressaldar ? ” 

Ghulam Rasul advanced to the parapet, and peered 

204 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 


205 


narrowly over the sand-bags which capped it. “ I know 
not how they come on so steadily, sahib,” he said hesitat- 
ingly, when he stood erect again. “ Perhaps it might be 

well for your honour ” but he was interrupted by a 

frantic shout from both gateway turrets at the same 
moment. 

“ Hold your fire ! Hold your fire ! The Colonel 
Sahib ! ” 

“ It is the luck of the Baba Sahib,” said Ghulam Rasul 
calmly, as Mr Burgrave and the doctor raced one another 
for the nearest turret. The doctor, not being hampered 
with a crutch, reached the goal first, and saluted the advanc- 
ing force with the information that they had just missed 
being blown into smithereens. 

“ All well, I hope ? ” said Colonel Graham, as the guard 
of the turrets descended tumultuously to unbar the gate. 

“ All well. Colonel, and the garrison increased by one 
since you left. And what about the guns, if I may ask ? ” 

“ The guns ? Oh, they’re at the bottom of the canal,” 
was the answer that stupefied Dr Tighe, as the forlorn hope 
began to file through the gateway. 

“Then you were successful after all,” inquired the in- 
credulous voice of Mr Burgrave from the steps. 

“ Oh, I see it ! I see it ! ” cried Dr Tighe, laughing 
wildly. “You settled the guns. Colonel dear, and then 
you came home another way, while the enemy are all 
waiting for you under the hill at this moment ! Oh, pat 
me on the back, somebody, or I’ll die ! ” 

“ What’s wrong with you, Tighe ? ” asked Colonel Graham 
in astonishment, as the doctor sat down upon a pile of the 
sand-bags that had been taken away from the gate, and 
fairly wept. 

“If you’d been through what I have to-night, going 
backwards and forwards between life and death, as I may 
say, and expecting those fiends to break in any moment — 
why, you would be glad to find yourself and other people 
still alive,” was the incoherent reply, as Dr Tighe accepted 
a sip from the flask which Winlock held out to him. “ But 
I beg your pardon. Colonel Graham and gentlemen, for this 
exhibition,” he added stiffly, as he rose and smoothed down 
his coat. “ It was the thought that there’s a chance now 
for Mrs North and the child that bowled me over.” 


206 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“The child?” cried Fitz. “Is it a boy, doctor? Oh, 
good luck ! Three cheers for the Luck of Alibad ! ” 

Colonel Graham waved his helmet, and led the cheering 
with a will, until the rousing sounds echoed beyond the 
circuit of the fort and revealed to the startled enemy that 
their prey had escaped them. In the rage caused by the 
shock of this discovery they forgot their customary pru- 
dence, and leaving their cover, pressed forward to the walls. 
The troops had been marching all night, but every man 
hurried to his station without a moment for food or rest, 
in the conviction that the crisis of the siege had at last 
arrived. The attack was only half-hearted however, al- 
though the enemy had provided themselves with scaling- 
ladders, in the evident expectation of being able to push 
their assault home. The absence of the support upon 
which they had counted from their cannon on the hiU 
upset their plans, and although Bahram Khan could be 
seen urging his followers forward even with blows, and 
setting them the example himself by advancing to the very 
foot of the wall, they did not so much as succeed in plant- 
ing one of the ladders. When convinced that the attempt 
was hopeless, the Prince drew off his forces with consider- 
able skill. A detachment of marksmen posted behind the 
plane trees made it impossible for the defenders to show 
themselves at the loopholes, and thus the assailants escaped 
with but little loss, though it was indubitable that in this, 
their first attack in force, they had suffered a defeat. 

“ Oh, I do feel so perfectly happy ! ” cried Mabel. 
“Think of all the horrid doleful things we were saying 
last night. Flora. And now Georgie is getting on aU right, 
and the baby ” 

“ And such a baby ! ” said Flora gravely, contemplating 
with deep interest the morsel of humanity which was lying 
in Mabels arms, wrapped in a shawl. It was with most 
unflattering reluctance that Mrs Hardy and Kahah had 
consented to confide their precious charge to two amateur 
nurses, however well meaning ; but Mabel took a high view 
of her privileges as an aunt, and the baby had been en- 
trusted to her and Flora for a short time, on condition of 
their promising faithfully to bring it back if it cried. 

“ And our men are all safely back, and we have won a 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 207 

victory, and everything is splendid ! ” Mabel went on. And 
yet she did not disclose the chief cause of her abounding 
satisfaction. She was free once more, and she felt that a 
load had been removed from her mind. But if she told 
Flora, Flora would think that her plain speaking the night 
before had brought about this happy result, and ungrate- 
fully enough, Mabel did not care that she should think so. 
“ I feel as if I should like to dance,” she broke out. “ Do 
dance. Flora.” 

“ And shake the dear baby ? ” asked Flora reproachfully. 

“ Salaam, Miss Sahib ! ” said a voice from the doorway, 
and they turned to see Ismail Bakhsh standing in the semi- 
darkness of the passage, shaded by the matting curtain. 
“ Is it permitted to the meanest of his slaves to kiss the 
feet of the Baba Sahib ? ” 

“ Oh yes, you can see him,” said Mabel, guessing at the 
tenor of the request, and she held up the baby. It was not 
by any means her intention that Ismail Bakhsh should 
take the child from her arms, but this he did at once. 

“ Oh, you’ll make him cry ! ” protested Flora. 

“Nay, Miss Sahib, he wiU know me, that I am the 
servant of his house. Was I not for ten years Sinjaj Kilin 
Sahib’s orderly, going in and out with him ? ” 

“ All the same, I don’t quite see how that should make 
you an authority on babies, my good man,” murmured 
Flora, and told Mabel Ismail Bakhsh’s qualifications for the 
post he had usurped. But the baby lay quite quietly in 
his arms, as though it recognised the force of the ancestral tie. 

“The Baba Sahib has the eyes of Nath Sahib, not of 
Kilin Sahib,” was the seK-constituted nurse’s next remark, 
delivered in a tone of keen regret. 

“ True, but some children’s eyes change colour, just as 
kittens’ do. Perhaps his will,” suggested Flora, gravaly and 
consolingly. 

“ Georgia wouldn’t like that,” objected Mabel, when this 
was translated to her. 

“ I’m afraid poor Mrs North won’t see much of him, if 
the regiment have their way,” said Flora. “ Do you know 
what Ismail Bakhsh is saying now ” 

“ I shall carry the Baba Sahib daily into the air, that he 
may grow tall and strong,” the old man was announcing. 
“ And as soon as he learns to walk I shall bring a little 


208 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


pony — a. very little pony, Miss Sahib ” — this in answer to 
the protest he discerned in Flora’s face — “ and I shall teach 
him to ride without saddle or bridle, that he may be like 
his grandfather, and I shall instruct him in the use of arms, 
so that when he joins the regiment with the Empress’s com- 
mission he will have no occasion to learn anything. He is 
to be a soldier from the day of his birth.” 

“ Oh, how his father would have loved to teach him to 
ride ! ” murmured Mabel, with tears in her eyes. 

“ The regiment will be his father. Miss Sahib. Is he not 
the son of Sinjaj Kilin ? ” 

“No, he isn’t!” cried Mabel, “and I don’t know why 
you should persist in leaving out his own father. Have 
you forgotten him already ? ” 

Flora translated the question, and the old man answered 
it solemnly. “ The Baba Sahib has no father until he has 
avenged him, Miss Sahib. We shall tell him of all Nath 
Sahib’s doings, and how he was lured to his death by 
guile, but he must not take his name upon his lips until he 
can say, ‘ Now there is not one left alive that had any part 
in that accursed deed, for I his son have tracked them out 
and slain them all.’ ” 

“ I don’t think Georgia will quite approve of the 
principles in which the regiment proposes to educate her 
boy,” said Mabel. 

“ Oh,” said Flora, “ he says — ‘ The Memsahib is but a 
woman, though something more than other women. This 
is our business. Is not the Baba Sahib the seal of the 
General, left behind to rule us?’ You know the story, 
don’t you, Mab? When General Keeling died the chiefs 
heard that he had expressed a desire to be buried in 
England — which was not true, by-the-bye — ^and they came 
to say that if his seal was leh in Khemistan, they would 
obey it as if it was himself, so that his body might be 
buried where he wished. But he is buried in the church- 
yard here, you know, by his own desire.” 

“ May we be allowed to take part in the baby-worship- 
ping?” asked Fred Haycraft’s voice at the end of the 
verandah. “We couldn’t find any servants to announce 
us, so we were obliged to walk in.” 

“ Poor old Anand Masih is seeking a little rest after the 
exciting events of the night,” laughed Mabel. “ Walk 


THE LUCK OP THE BABA SAHIB. 209 

softly, please, and come quite to this end of the verandah, 
so as not to disturb Georgia.” 

“We felt shy because we couldn’t send in our cards 
properly,” said Fitz, who was Haycraft’s companion, “but 
when we saw you had a visitor already, we thought we 
might venture in. What a nice smart nursemaid Mrs 
North has set up ! — eh, Ismail Bakhsh 1 ” 

“ True, sahib ; I am the Baba Sahib’s bearer,” responded 
the old man, with simple dignity. “ Every night when I 
am not on guard I shall bring my mat and lie in the 
verandah here, to guard his sleep.” 

“ That’s a queer idea,” said Haycraft. “ Has the Mem 
sahib asked you to look after him ? ” 

“ Nay, sahib ; but many seek to destroy the lion cub, for 
fear of what he will do when he is full-grown.” 

“ I wonder if there’s anything in that,” said Fitz. “ Can 
it be that Bahram Khan’s men directed their fire purposely 
upon this courtyard, knowing that Mrs North was here ? ” 

“ There are enemies within the walls as well as without, 
sahib,” was the answer, as Ismail Bakhsh rocked the baby 
gently in his arms. 

“ I say, I believe I could do that ! ” said Fitz. “ Let me 
have a try.” 

“ No, no,” said Mabel ; “ you’ll only make the baby cry, 
and hurt his nurse’s feelings. We want you and Mr Hay- 
craft to tell us what really happened last night, and why 
you left us to endure such agonies of suspense for hours. I 
believe it was simply that we might think all the more of 
you when you got back.” 

“ Then I hope you do,” said Haycraft, “ for he deserves 
it. Go ahead, Anstruther ; you left the fort first. I’ll cut 
in later on, and spare your blushes.” 

“ What in the world are you driving at ? ” demanded Fitz. 
“ Story ? bless you, ladies ! I’ve none to tell. We got across 
the irrigated land and into the hills just as we had intended, 
settled ourselves in our cacke, and then sent up our rockets 
and opened fire. At first it was exactly like upsetting a 
beehive, there was such a rushing about and shouting in 
the camp underneath and aU over the town. But we 
hadn’t allowed for one thing. Bahram Khan is far cleverer 
than we thought him. He could tell by the sound of our 
firing that we were only a small party, and he guessed at 

0 


210 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


once that our attack was nothing but a feint, arranged to 
cover a dash on the guns. So he didn’t waste any time 
in trying to rush our position, but simply left us alone, 
which was truly mortifying, for we had been looking for- 
ward to no end of fun among the rocks, leading the fellows 
off on false scents, and astonishing them with unexpected 
volleys, and all that sort of thing.” 

“ Fun, indeed ! ” cried Mabel indignantly. “ You ought 
to be thankful they let you alone.” 

“ I’m sorry. Miss North. I didn’t know your heart was 
so tender towards the enemy. At any rate, they escaped 
us that time, you see. Well, as soon as we made sure that 
the tide of battle was taking its way elsewhere, we evacu- 
ated our sangar, and started off at the double for the 
rendezvous. But there were difficulties in the way of getting 
there. While we were slipping and sliding down into the 
valley, making for the canal, we heard tremendous firing 
in the direction of the bridge, which sent our hearts into 
our sandals, for we knew that the Colonel’s column had no 
business to be anywhere near there.” 

“ Yes, I cannot make out how you managed to get so far 
to the right,” said Flora, addressing Haycraft, and speaking 
more in sorrow than in anger, as beseems the arm-chair 
critic. 

“We didn’t manage anything of the sort,” answered 
Haycraft. “ As a matter of fact, we were not there at all. 
The only explanation we can suggest for the mysterious 
fusillade is that the Commissioner and his command were 
making a record display of wild firing from the walls 
here — simply blazing away in every direction — and that 
some of their bullets fell among the enemy posted at the 
bridge-head, and started them off too. We were marching 
by compass on the right road when we heard them a good 
way off, repulsing, as they imagined, an attack in the rear. 
They can’t make out that their shooting is much better 
than ours, at any rate, for some of their bullets went wide 
too, and fell into our ranks, which threw the native followers 
into an awful panic. One or two men got flesh-wounds, 
that was all, but the doolie-bearers and hhistis scattered 
in a moment, and tried to hide. We had to rout them out 
of all sort of places, but at last we did think we had found 
them aU, though it seems now that one of them succeeded 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 211 

in getting away. He is being dealt with — -suitably — at this 
moment.” 

“'And do you mean to say,” asked Mabel, as Fitz laughed 
grimly, “ that you all went on as if nothing had happened, 
and never returned the fire 'I ” 

“Why, that would have given the whole thing away. 
Our only chance was to leave them to blaze away at one 
another, and go straight for the hiU. But this is still 
Anstruther’s innings.” 

“ Well,” said Fitz, “ when we heard the firing we instantly 
occupied a fine strategic position in a hollow at the base of 
our cliff, with the canal in front of us, and one of the men 
and I scouted a little way along the bank. What we found 
out was very exciting indeed. The men at the bridge-head 
had discovered their mistake by this time, and ceased firing, 
but we saw why they were in such an agitated state of 
mind. The bridge had been repaired, and they were guard- 
ing it ! More than that, Bahram Khan was even then — as 
we crouched there — bringing up his men to cross the canal, 
and invest the water side of the fort, so cutting off our 
fellows as they came home. I can tell you it was a pretty 
tough job to wriggle along like a snake, and take advan- 
tage of cover, when one wanted simply to tear back to the 
rest and consult what was to be done. You see, there was 
just this in our favour. The enemy didn’t know exactly 
where our men were, and so long as there was no noise on 
the hill, they would remain in doubt, for they weren’t likely 
to risk their lives by going up to see. Sure enough, they 
waited discreetly, spreading themselves out over the irri- 
gated land below the hill on both sides of the canal. That 
gave Winlock and me our cue, and when I got to the 
Colonel ” 

“But you haven’t said how you got to him!” cried 
Mabel and Flora together. 

“ My turn 1 ” said Haycraft blandly, laying an authori- 
tative hand on Fitz’s shoulder. “ Sit and squirm, my boy, 
while I sing your praises. He swam the canal, ladies, 
in the dark and icy cold, and took over with him the end 
of a rope made of the men’s turbans. Winlock and the 
rest waited to guard the crossing, while this fellow climbed 
the hill, and by the best of good luck, found us at the top. 
We had taken the guard round the guns absolutely by sur- 


212 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


prise — they were all asleep, in fact, without a single sentry 
— and settled things almost in silence. Not a shot was 
fired, and everything was so quiet that Woodworth started 
the bright idea of bringing the guns home with us instead 
of destroying them. It really seemed quite possible, for the 
drag-ropes were there ready, and it would have made all the 
difference in the world to us to have a couple of cannon. 
But when Anstruther turned up, like a very dripping ghost, 
and informed us that the way was blocked, and we couldn’t 
even get home ourselves, much less take back the guns in 
triumph, things began to look a little blue. We might stay 
where we were, or we might try to cut our way through, 
but the prospect wasn’t very cheerful either way.” 

“No food or water on the hill, and the enemy holding all 
the plain below,” summarised Fitz tersely. 

“And therefore,” went on Haycraft, “the Colonel lent 
a willing ear to the aspiring civilian before you, who offered 
to lead him right round through the hills and bring him in 
at the main gate of the fort, the very last place where the 
enemy would think of expecting him. So the drag-ropes 
came in useful, after all, for we pulled the guns to a nice 
steep place overlooking the water. We had to be awfully 
quiet, of course, though the hill was between us and the 
enemy, but we spiked the guns and rolled them over into 
the canal. Then we marched down, and got across by the 
help of the drag-ropes, which Winlock and his men hauled 
over with their string of turbans. We got pretty wet about 
the legs, but nothing to Anstruther. He led us right 
round, as he had promised, and at the end we actually 
marched right through the town without meeting a soul. 
The men were told to break step, lest the tramp should be 
heard; but the enemy were all ever so far off, watching 
affectionately for our reappearance on the other side of the 
canal. They hadn’t the slightest suspicion of our real 
whereabouts. Of course, if we had known which way we 
were coming back, we might have done a lot of things — 
taken some dynamite and blown up General Keeling’s 
house, perhaps— but it’s no use repining about that now.” 

“ Repining 1 I should think not ! ” cried Flora. “You’ve 
had a whole night of marching and counter-marching, and 
strategic movements and capturing guns, and you come 
home to find a nice little fight waiting for you before you 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 


213 


can lie down to sleep, and yet, when you are in the very act 
of playing Othello to two Desdemonas, you pretend you 
aren’t satisfied ! ” 

“Oh, we haven’t made enough of them,” said Mabel 
briskly. “ They think we ought to have met them at the 
gate, and cast the fiowers out of our best hats before them 
as they marched in. I’m sure this morbid thirst for appre- 
ciation oughtn’t to be gratified, for their own sakes. Now I 
am going to take the boy back to his mother. His brains 
will certainly be addled if Ismail Bakhsh rocks him up and 
down much longer.” 

“What’s happened to the Commissioner!” asked Hay- 
craft, as Mabel disappeared with the baby. “We rather 
thought we should find him here.” 

“I don’t know,” said Flora. “He hasn’t been in this 
morning. Oh no,” as Hay craft lifted his eyebrows, “ they 
haven’t quarrelled. They were quite friendly last night. I 
daresay he’s busy.” 

“It is because of the Baba Sahib that the Kumpsioner 
Sahib has not come,” remarked Ismail Bakhsh calmly, 
pausing at the corner of the verandah, and addressing no 
one in particular. 

“Our friend understands English too well,” muttered 
Haycraft to Fitz. “ But what can he mean — that Burgrave 
dislikes babies, or that he is jealous because Miss North is 
so much taken up with it ! ” 

“ The Kumpsioner Sahib will not come here in the day- 
time,” was the dark reply. “That is why this unworthy 
one will keep guard here at night, sahib.” 

“What maggot has the old fellow got in his brain now!” 
asked Fitz, when Ismail Bakhsh had disappeared down the 
passage. 

“ I really think this valued family retainer is getting a 
little bit cracked,” said Flora. “ Do just imagine the Com- 
missioner creeping in here in the dark with a dagger to 
murder the baby ! ” 

“ Or smothering it with pillows ! ” chuckled Haycraft. 

“ Well, I only hope Ismail Bakhsh won’t go and shoot 
some one by mistake,” said Fitz. 

“ There is a deputation from the regiment waiting at the 
end of the verandah, anxious to interview your son and 


214 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


heir, Mrs North,” said Dr Tighe in the afternoon of the 
same day. 

“ How nice of them ! I wish I could take him to them 
myself,” said Georgia. 

“ You must leave that to his proud aunt,” said Mabel. 
“ But surely we ought to smarten him up a little, Georgie 1 
I wish we had a proper robe for him. How would that 
white embroidered shawl of mine do to wrap him in ^ ” 

“No, tell Eahah to get out the shawl which the native 
officers gave me for a wedding present. It is in the regi- 
mental colours, and that will please them more than anything.” 

“Now, don’t excite yourself,” entreated Mabel. “You 
are getting quite flushed over the boy’s toilette. Do leave 
him to us. Surely Mrs Hardy and Rahah and Flora and 
I can dress one baby between us ? ” 

“Well, mind that if they hold out the hilts of their 
tulwars, you make him touch them with his hand, and the 
same if they bring any present.” 

“Oh, Flora will prompt me. Don’t be afraid, Georgie. 
The boy’s first public appearance shall do credit to us all, 
and the regiment too.” 

But when Mabel stepped out into the verandah, carrying 
the gorgeous bundle, she was met by Ismail Bakhsh, who 
held out his arms with an air of proprietorship which she 
resented. “No, no ! ” she said, shaking her head vigor- 
ously ; “ I am going to hold him.” 

“Nay, Miss Sahib, am I not his bearer 1 Was I not for 
ten years orderly to Sinjaj Kilin Sahib ? Have I not served 
Nath Sahib and the Mem 1” 

“ Don’t hurt his feelings. Miss North,” laughed Dr Tighe. 

“Well, he can stand beside me and lift the boy’s hand 
to touch the swords and presents and things. People will 
really have to understand that he belongs to us as well as 
the regiment.” 

The honourable post assigned to him served to mollify 
Ismail Bakhsh, and he took his stand beside Mabel with 
immense dignity. The members of the deputation were all 
in full uniform, and advanced to pay their respects strictly 
in order of rank. All unconsciously, the baby itself struck 
the right note at the very outset. When Ressaldar Badul- 
lah Khan came forward and held up the hilt of his sword, 
there was no need for Ismail Bakhsh to guide the little 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 


215 


hand to it. The glittering metal, rendered dazzling by a 
ray of light which came through a bullet-hole in the curtain, 
seemed to catch the baby’s eye, and the aimless movements 
of both arms which followed were immediately interpreted 
as indicating a desire to seize the sword. 

“ Shabash I Shabash ! ” came in eager accents from the 
men behind. “He is the true son of Sinjaj Kilin. The 
sword will never be out of his hand.” 

Badullah Khan retired, much gratified, and Ghulam 
Rasal, taking his place, was careful to hold his sword 
where the light fell upon it. Again the baby stretched 
out its arms to the gleam, and tlus was accepted as con- 
firming the omen. The rest of the deputation were content 
when Ismail Bakhsh raised the baby’s hand to touch their 
sword-hilts, and the same was the case with regard to the 
two or three gold coins which were brought forward as a 
mark of respect. The bearer of this msr was just retiring 
when an untoward incident occurred. There was a sudden 
whirr, and a bullet, piercing the matting curtain, ploughed 
up the skin of Ismail Bakhsh’s wrist and passed through 
the fleshy part of his arm, before burying itself in the wall 
behind him. The group in the verandah stood staring at 
one another. Flora declared afterwards that Mabel dropped 
the baby in her fright, and that it was only rescued by a 
frantic effort on the part of Dr Tighe, but Mabel repudiated 
the accusation with scorn. Certain it is that her nephew 
was still in her arms the moment after, when a cry of “ A 
hit ! a palpable hit ! ” came from the nearest tower, fol- 
lowing closely upon the report of a rifle. 

“ Are you trying to pot the baby, Winlock ^ ” shouted the 
doctor, recognising the voice, and stooping under the cur- 
tain to step out into the courtyard. 

“No, but I’ve sniped the sniper. There’s no cover on 
Gun Hill now, and I saw his head when he raised it to fire. 
No harm done, I hope % ” 

“ Well, the Luck of Alibad very nearly came to an abrupt 
and premature end. Take the child in. Miss North, and 
reassure the mother. Master North has had his baptism 
of fire pretty early in life.” 

“What can have made them fire in this direction now 
that we have the curtain 1 ” asked Flora, as she brought out 
a pair of scissors to slit up Ismail Bakhsh’s sleeve. 


216 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ I see how it is,” cried the doctor. “ The curtain doesn^t 
quite reach the ground, and the sight of such an assemblage 
of spurs, shining in the sun, showed the sniper that some- 
thing was going on in this neighbourhood. It’s a happy 
thing that Ismail Bakhsh was standing in front of the 
baby.” 

“ Ah,” said the old man, with a delighted grin, ** the Baba 
Sahib is altogether ours now. We have paid our respects 
at his first durbar, and we have been under fire with him 
already. Surely the Ressaldar-Major Sahib and those who 
are absent with him will be mad with envy of us ! ” 

“ And you have shed your blood for him,” said Dr Tighe, 
as he bandaged the arm. 

“Nay, sahib, it all belongs to him. He has but taken 
toll.” 


“ Isn’t he perfectly sweet, Georgie 1 ” Mabel was demand- 
ing at that moment, by way of diverting Georgia’s mind 
from the danger to which the baby had been exposed. 
Kneeling at the side of the bed, she was trying, with con- 
spicuous lack of success, to tempt her nephew to play with 
her hair. “ Don’t you think he’s the most delightful baby 
that ever was born 1 ” she asked again. 

“Of course,” said Georgia, smiling. “I am almost as 
proud of him as Dr Tighe is, and that’s sa 3 dng a good deal.” 

“And he’s so good,” resumed Mabel, referring to the 
baby, not to the doctor. “ He has scarcely cried a bit, and 
that is such a comfort under the circumstances. It would 
have been so discreditable if the Luck of Alibad had cried 
whenever a shot was fired, but he’s a regular little hero.” 

“ WeU, he has no lack of nurses, if that’s good for the 
temper,” said Georgia. “ Oh, how I wish his father could 
see him ! ” she sighed suddenly, as the baby moved in her 
arms and looked straight before it with solemn grey eyes. 

“ Perhaps he can,” suggested Mabel softly. 

“Why, Mab! what do you mean?” cried Georgia, her 
face fiushing. 

“ I only meant that many people think they are allowed 
to know what is happening on earth,” explained Mabel, 
with some hesitation. Georgia laid her head upon the 
pillow again with a little moan of disappointment. 

“You will talk as if Dick was dead!” she said. “I 


THE LUCK OF THE BABA SAHIB. 217 

thought you had heard something — that he was here, 
perhaps.” 

“ Oh, Georgie ! ” cried Mabel, in strong remonstrance. 
Then, remembering that exciting topics ought to be avoided, 
she changed the subject. “ What do you mean to call the 
boy ? Have you decided ? ” 

“ St George Keeling,” was the unhesitating reply. “ Dick 
has always said that if he had a son he would name him 
after my father.” 

“ Then you won’t call him after Dick 1 Oh, Georgie ! ” 

Georgia smiled triumphantly. “Oh yes, I shall insist 
upon that. If Dick chooses two names, I’m sure I have a 
right to choose one. Eichard St George Keeling North — 
it’s rather long, isn’t it ? but Dick won’t mind.” 

“ Then I suppose,” said Mabel, feeling her way timorously, 
“ that you are not thinking of having him christened just 
yet ? Mr Hardy was asking me whether you would like it 
to be soon, as tMngs are so uncertain.” 

“Before his father comes back? Certainly not,” said 
Georgia, with so much decision that Mabel dared make no 
further protest. She attacked Dr Tighe, however, upon 
the subject when she saw him next. 

“ You thought that poor Georgia’s delusion would pass 
away when the baby was born, but she is as fully convinced 
as ever that Dick is alive,” she said, with something of 
triumph. 

“ I know,” acquiesced the doctor, “ and I am disappointed. 
But the delusion is bound] to disappear in course of time — 
when she sees his grave, if not before. And I’d have you 
remember. Miss North, that she’s likely only hoping against 
hope now. Her reason may be assuring her that he’s dead, 
while her heart fights against the notion. To try to combat 
this hope of hers would only make her stick to it all the 
more. Let it alone, and it will fade away naturally.” 

Much against her will, Mabel promised to obey. It 
seemed to her that it was both wrong and cruel to allow 
such a state of uncertainty to continue; but as the days 
passed on without any further suggestion that Dick was 
alive, she began to be satisfied that the delusion was fading 
from Georgia’s mind. 


CHAPTER XVm. 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION, 

After their disappointment with regard to the guns, the 
enemy made no further effort to take the fort by storm. 
They seemed quite content to substitute a blockade for a 
siege, but this circumstance did not tend to raise the spirits 
of the garrison, since it showed that there was as yet no 
sign of any movement for their relief. Sniping was prac- 
tised indefatigably on both sides whenever opportunity 
offered, and a stranger standing on the cleared ground 
between the fort and General Keeling’s house might have 
imagined the one and the other alike deserted, so skilful 
had the occupants become in taking advantage of cover, 
save when a puff of smoke and the crack of a rifle on the 
right met with an immediate response in kind from the left. 
The enemy were not now occupying the opposite bank of 
the canal in force, but it was a favourite station for their 
boldest sharp-shooters, who took up their posts under cover 
of darkness, and from the shelter of rough sangars or dikes 
of earth, fired at the water-carriers as they clambered up 
and down to the water-gate with their skins and earthen 
pots. The great fall in the level of the water gave much 
encouragement to this form of attack, and it was found 
necessary to erect a screen of tent-cloth, supported on poles, 
to protect the steps cut in the wall below the gate. On the 
rampart above two or three good marksmen were always 
posted, watching for the moment at which the sniper was 
forced to betray his presence for an instant, and the post 
was much coveted. Any duty that promised a little 
excitement was eagerly welcomed, for the closeness of their 
quarters and the lack of exercise were telling upon the 
health and spirits of the garrison. The wounded did not 
recover as they ought, and the mortality among the native 
refugees was very heavy. Moreover, the stock of provisions 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESEKTION. 


219 


accumulated under difficulties by Colonel Graham and Dick 
was diminishing with alarming speed. Rations were served 
out to all with the strictest economy, and Mabel and Flora, 
observing a daily diminution in the numbers of the horses 
stabled in the outer court, refrained heroically from any 
remark on the shape of the joints set before them. The 
two girls were quite accustomed to a state of siege by this 
time, had ceased to start at the whirr and ping of a bullet, 
and took cover as naturally as the oldest trooper in the 
regiment when they left the shelter of their rooms. As 
Mabel said one day to Colonel Graham, the strangest thing 
was the remembrance that they had ever known a time when 
the siege was not going on. 

“And that you will know a time when it is over, 
I hope ? ” he responded. “ I only wish I saw any chance 
of our being relieved, or even of being able to cut our 
way through, but the next move lies undoubtedly with the 
enemy.” 

This move, when it came, was an unexpected one. In 
the course of a dark night, a scuffle close under the eastern 
wall became audible to the sentries, who fired immediately 
in the direction of the sound, to hear in return a scream 
which was unmistakably a woman’s. The garrison stood 
to arms, but no attack was made, and no explanation of 
the mysterious occurrence offered itself. In the morning, 
however, a white flag appeared in the street next to General 
Keeling’s house, and when Colonel Graham replied to it 
from one of the gateway turrets, two unarmed men made 
their appearance, dragging with them a woman, her clothes 
and veil torn and blood-stained. Having escorted her 
into the middle of the cleared space, they left her there, 
and ran back to shelter, while she sank on her knees 
and raised one hand in an entreaty for mercy. Despite 
her agony of fear, however, she kept her veil wrapped 
closely round her. 

“ Evidently d^pardah woman,” said Colonel Graham to Mr 
Burgi’ave, “ but what she is doing here I can’t make out.” 

He shouted some words of encouragement, and the woman 
came a little nearer, and made signs that she desired to be 
admitted into the fort. 

“ No, no ; can’t have that,” cried the Colonel. “ You must 
say what you have to say from where you are.” 


220 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ Nay, sahib,” came in a quavering voice, “ I am not used 
to speak before so many men. Thy servant belongs to the 
household of the Hasrat Ali Begum, and is sent with a 
message to the doctor lady.” 

“Tell me your message, by all means, and I will give 
it her.” 

“Nay, sahib, suffer thy servant to see her, for I have 
gone through great perils to bring the message. Last night 
I crept close up to the walls, hoping to speak with some 
who might let me in, but the servants of my mistress’s son 
tracked and seized me, and thy sowars shot at me from the 
rampart,” and she thrust forth a roughly bandaged foot. 
“And this morning Syad Bahram Khan said that since 
I came to bear my mistress’s message, I should now bear 
his, and tell thee, sahib, what terms he offers thee.” 

“ And what may they be ? ” 

“ He says, sahib — ‘ The siege has now lasted many days, 
and my followers are fast becoming discontented and steal- 
ing away from me. I have learnt to honour the valour of 
the sahibs, and but for the rancour of my uncle, the Amir 
Sahib, I would have made terms with them long before. 
He has sworn to have the life of every white man in the 
fort, and it is only because he is now away at Nalapur that 
I can offer them safety. The fort I must have, to save my 
face in the sight of my followers ; but if it is surrendered 
to me to-day, before my uncle returns in his cruelty, 
thirsting for blood, I will send all the sahibs and the 
women and children away to Rahmat-Ullah, and by night- 
fall they shall be so far off that there is no pursuing them. 
The troopers also may go where they will, but I cannot 
promise them safe-conduct, for I have not beasts to mount 
them all, and they might chance to be overtaken. These 
terms I offer out of my honour for the sahibs, and my 
hatred for the cruelty of my uncle.’ ” 

“And does the Hasrat Ali Begum advise us to accept 
them % ” asked Colonel Graham dryly. 

“ She has not heard of them, sahib. I have but spoken 
as I was commanded.” 

“Well, I don’t think we need deliberate long over this,” 
said the Colonel to Mr Burgrave. “It’s clear that Bahram 
lOian is trying to hedge, and throwing the blame of all 
that has happened upon his uncle. From that I should 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION. 221 

judge that the relieving force is in motion at last. "When 
the inevitable attack was made upon us as soon as we were 
outside the fort, the Amir would get the credit of the 
massacre, and Bahram Khan would pose as the innocent 
and peaceable dupe of his uncle’s treachery. He might 
even contrive to wipe out the Amir in his honest wrath, 
and appear red-handed at Bahmat-Ullah as our avenger — 
and also as the natural heir to the throne of Nalapur.” 

“You don’t leave him many shreds of character,” said 
the Commissioner stiffly. 

“I forgot he was a friend of yours. No; but seriously, 
you wouldn’t dream of trusting him ? Of course not. The 
terms are refused, O servant of the Begum Sahib. Now, 
what about that message of yours for the doctor lady ? ” 

“It is for her ear alone, sahib.” 

“ She is ill, and cannot come to the waU.” 

“ Suffer me to see her, sahib, if only for a moment. My 
mistress bade me inquire of her health, for she has heard 
rumours that grieve her heart.” 

“ I’m sorry it’s impossible to admit you. Mrs North is 
doing well ; you must be satisfied with that.” 

“Nay, but let me see her, sahib. I dare not go back 
with my mistress’s commands undone.” 

“ It is impossible. Have you any further message ? ” 

“ I must see her. It is urgent — most necessary. Sahib, 
suffer me to come in.” 

“ Impossible. Get back to your own side as fast as you 
can.” 

“ What could she have had to say 1 ” asked Mr Burgrave 
curiously, as they left the turret. 

“ Can’t tell. Some native remedy or charm to give her, 
perhaps — which might have been poison. We have no proof 
that the woman comes from the Begum. She may be in 
reality a spy of Bahram Khan’s.” 

The news of the woman’s mysterious mission, and her 
importunity, spread quickly through the fort, but the 
pccupants of the inner courtyard had little time to wonder 
over it, for Georgia’s condition seemed to have taken a 
sudden turn for the worse. After a troubled night she 
had waked in an agitated, excited state, unable to bear the 
slightest noise in the room. She lay listening anxiously, 
asking the rest at intervals if they did not hear something. 


222 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


and they tried in vain to find out what it was she thought 
they ought to hear. They left her alone at last, since their 
presence seemed only to increase the strain upon her mind, 
and Mabel remained in the outer room with the door ajar. 
Peeping into the inner room after a time, she saw, to her 
delight, that her sister-in-law had dropped asleep, but very 
soon a cry summoned her back. Georgia was sitting up in 
bed with flushed cheeks. 

“ He is here, then,” she said. “I knew I heard his voice. 
Bring him in, Mab. How can you keep him outside, when 
you know he is longing to see me ? ” 

“ There’s no one outside. What do you mean, Georgie ? ” 
asked Mabel, astonished. 

“ Why, Dick, of course ! I have heard him calling me 
all day, though it sounded so far off, but now it’s quite 
close — in my ear, almost. There, don’t you hear ? ” 

Mabel strained her ears, but in vain. “ There’s nothing, 
really,” she said. 

“ ‘Oh, you must be deaf ! Go and see, Mab. Don’t 
keep him waiting. I know he wants me. WTiy doesn’t 
some one tell him where I am ? ” 

To satisfy her, Mabel went out into the verandah and 
looked round, naturally without result. She could scarcely 
bring herself to return and assure Georgia that the voice 
was purely a hallucination, but it was a relief to find that 
she did not seem seriously disappointed. A new idea had 
come into her mind. 

“ What was Dr Tighe or some one saying about the Eye- 
of-the-Begum ? that she wanted to see me % She was bring- 
ing me a message from him.” 

“ Oh, Georgie ! ” sighed Mabel, in hopeless despair. 

“ He wants me. I must go to him. Tell Rahah to get 
my things ready.” 

“ But you can’t get up, you know. Besides, the enemy 
are all round outside.” 

“ I tell you I must go to him. I wish you wouldn’t put 
absurd obstacles in the way, Mab. He wants me. He is 
calling me. Of course I shall go.” 

“ Yes, you shall,” said poor harassed Mabel ; “ only lie 
quiet just now. You can’t possibly go to-night, you know. 
Try to sleep a little.” 

She succeeded in inducing her to lie down, but whenever 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION. 


223 


she crept in to look at her Georgia was staring into the 
darkness with wide-open, brilliant eyes. Not even the baby 
could divert her thoughts from the conviction that had 
taken possession of her mind, and Mabel decided to sleep 
in the outer room, in case her help should be needed during 
the night. All passed quietly, however, although she had 
a dream that Kahah came and looked at her very earnestly, 
even entreatingly, but said nothing. In the morning, after 
glancing at Georgia, and finding her apparently asleep, she 
went to her own room to dress. She was just putting the 
finishing touches to her hair when she saw Rahah come out 
with a large bundle in one hand and a box in the other, and 
after looking anxiously around, turn away as if disappointed, 
and disappear down the passage. 

“ That looked like Georgie’s travelling medicine-chest. 
What can she be doing with it?” said Mabel to herself. 
“ And a bundle of clothes — Oh, what ” 

A terrible thought had seized her, and she ran along the 
darkened verandah. The outer room was in a state of vdld 
confusion, as if Rahah had been making a hasty selection 
from among her mistress’s possessions, and in the inner 
room Georgia was sitting on the side of the bed, trying to 
dress. 

“ Georgie ! what are you doing ? ” gasped Mabel. 

“ I am going to Dick. He wants me,” answered Georgia, 
looking at her with unseeing eyes. 

“ But you can’t move. You’re not fit for it. Georgie, do 
be sensible.” 

“ I don’t know what you mean. I’m perfectly well, only 
so ridiculously weak. But Dick is calling me, and I am 
going to him.” 

Mabel gazed at her in despair, then seized the baby, 
which was wrapped up in a shawl, ready for travelling. 
“ You won’t go without him, I suppose, and I’ll take good 
care that you don’t go with him,” she said, while Georgia 
looked at her without a trace of comprehension in her gaze. 
“ Just sit there until I come back.” 

She ran down the passage with the baby in her arms, and 
glanced at the archway in the wall which led to the water- 
gate. The gate was open, and Ismail Bakhsh was hard at 
work inflating one of the skins which had been used to sup- 
port the raft. Rahah was standing near him with her 


224 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


parcels, looking helplessly round, apparently for some one to 
whom to appeal. 

“ They have waited until Ismail Bakhsh is on guard, and 
the sentries on the wall are to look the other way while he 
ferries them over in turn,” said Mabel to herself. “ Why, it 
would kill Georgie ! Well, they won’t start while I have 
the boy. “ Oh,” she cried, coming suddenly upon a Euro- 
pean, “ please tell somebody to go and arrest Ismail Bakhsh. 
He has got the water-gate open, and he is going ! to 
desert.” 

Long before she had reached the end of her sentence she 
recognised that it was Mr Burgrave to whom she was speak- 
ing. They had scarcely met since the dreadful night of 
anxiety when she had given him back his ring, and she 
noticed ^with a shock how gray and shrunken he looked. 
It was the hardships of the siege, she tried to assure herself, 
that had made him old before his time. 

“I will certainly give your message to the officer on 
guard,” he answered politely. “ We can’t allow this sort of 
thing to begin.” 

He went on his way with a bow, and she stood looking 
after him. Hearing a click, she glanced up hastily. The 
sentry on the rampart above her was kneeling down and 
taking deliberate aim with his carbine at the unconscious 
Commissioner. She knew the man ; he was Ismail Bakhsh’s 
son Ibrahim, and she saw that the moment Mr Burgrave 
quitted the shelter of the wall in crossing the courtyard he 
would be at his mercy. But in her arms was a talisman, 
and she ran forward and caught up the Commissioner, who 
looked round at her in astonishment. 

“Oh, do take him in your arms for a moment!” she 
cried, stammering in her eagerness. “ You have never held 
him, and his mother will be so pleased.” 

Taken completely by surprise, Mr Burgrave allowed the 
baby to be placed in his arms, and actually carried it across 
the court, while Mabel, at his side, was shaking with 
apprehension. She knew that he was safe while he held 
that precious bundle, but she was by no means sure that 
Ibrahim would not resent her interference with his plans to 
the extent of shooting her instead. This physical terror 
kept her from feeling the awkwardness of the situation, and 
she did not even realise it until Mr Burgrave paused at the 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESEETION. 225 

archway leading into the outer court, and looked into her 
face as he gave her back the baby. 

“ You will laugh at me for saying that I had a little hope 
left until to-day,” he said. “Now I see how foolish I was. 
In spite of the siege and all your troubles, you look now as 
you did when I first knew you, and it is simply because 
you are free from me. Don’t be afraid; I shall not 
persecute you. All I care for is to see you happy in your 
own way.” 

There was little inclination to laughter in Mabel’s noiind 
as she returned slowly to Georgia’s room. She had scarcely 
reached it when Kahah came flying along the passage to 
tell her mistress that Woodworth Sahib and ten men had 
come and taken Ismail Bakhsh prisoner, and there was there- 
fore no hope of escaping to-day. Georgia hardly seemed to 
hear. She was still sitting where Mabel had left her, 
sobbing feebly and too weak to move, and they were able to 
get her into bed again before Dr Tighe came bustling in. 

“Now, now, what’s this I hear?” he asked severely. 
“WiU you think, Mrs North, that we’ve always regarded 
you as a sensible woman, and that the Major was proud 
of your judgment? You wouldn’t be in earnest just 
now ? ” 

“ Oh, let me go ! ” implored Georgia. “ I can’t hear 
what you say, doctor. Dick’s voice comes in between. He 
wants me so much. Oh, Dick, I would come, but they 
won’t let me.” 

“This won’t do,” said Dr Tighe. “Must humour her, 
poor thing ! ” he muttered behind his hand to Mabel. 
“Now, Mrs North, assuming that the Major is delirious, 
and crying out for you ” 

“ Torture ! ” interjected Georgia, in a high, hard voice. 

“ No, no ! Nonsense, nonsense ! Why, it’s biting out 
his tongue he’d be before the devils would get a word out 
of him. But supposing he’s iU, now — would it be any 
pleasure to him to know that you had killed yourself and 
the child trpng to get to him? You know it wouldn’t. 
’Twould be a bitter grief to him all his days. And for that 
reason you’ll take this, and he down quietly, and try to get 
some sleep.” 

“ It won’t drown his voice,” said Georgia, accepting the 
medicine, but looking up with such misery in her eyes that 

P 


226 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


it almost destroyed the doctor’s self-control. “I should 
hear that if I were dead.” 

“Oh, doctor,” murmured Mabel, drawing him into the 
outer room, “ if she should be right, after all ! What can 
we do ? ” 

He looked at her in astonishment. “My dear Miss 
North, you mustn’t let yourself be led away by that poor 
soul’s ravings. After such a happy married life as hers, 
it would be strange indeed if she could give her husband 
up for lost without a struggle. But what possible hope is 
there of his being alive ? If he was a prisoner, don’t you 
think Bahram Khan would have made use of him long ago 
to torment us ? Don’t make it worse for her by encouraging 
her to hope.” 

“ No, no, of course not,” said Mabel impatiently. “ But 
all the same,” she muttered to herself as he left her, 
“something ought to be done, and I know the man to 
do it.” 

Half-an-hour later she went out into the verandah to 
meet Fitz Anstruther, who had come as usual to inquire 
after Georgia and the baby, and beckoned him to a secluded 
corner, where two packing-cases served as seats. 

“Do you know,” she said eagerly, vdthout giving him 
time to speak, “I am beginning to believe that Dick is 
really alive. Georgia is so absolutely convinced he isn’t 
dead, and I can’t think she is altogether mistaken. Is 
there no way of finding oat?” 

“You don’t mean by making inquiries, surely? The 
Amir certainly believes he is dead, and Bahram Khan 
chooses us to think that he does too, so we should get no 
good out of them.” 

“Yes, I quite see that, but what I have been thinking 
is that some one to whom he had been kind may have 
hidden him away — in a house in the mountains, or one of 
the camps of the wandering tribes — and he may be lying 
there ill all this time.” 

“I only wish he might, but in that case I’m afraid 
it would simply be his death-warrant if we found out 
where he was. Bahram Khan would stiU be between us 
and him, you see.” 

“Yes, but there’s another chance still. Suppose he is 
in Bahram Khan’s hands, after all, but too badly wounded 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION. 


227 


to be moved? Bahram Khan would know that he could 
not make use of him without showing him, and that he 
would be no good to him dead. So what if he is keeping 
him prisoner just with that in view — to produce him when 
he gets better, and offer to give him up if we surrender 
the fort? Yes, the more I think it over, the more I feel 
certain that it must be that.” 

“ And what then ? ” asked Fitz, as she paused eagerly. 

“ Why then, don’t you see, if we once knew that he was 
a prisoner, and where he was kept, a force could go out and 
rescue him, as they did the guns. There isn’t a man that 
would not volunteer, and then he would be saved.” 

“ But how are we to find out whether he is a prisoner ? ” 

“Oh, surely you must know! Don’t pretend to be so 
stupid. Some one must go and see — dress up as a native, 
and get into the enemy’s camp.” 

He laughed. “ Curiously enough, the Colonel was talk- 
ing of something of the kind this very morning. He wants 
to know whether there is really a rumour among the enemy 
about a relieving force.” 

“ And who is to go ? ” 

“WKo? Oh, I think that old daffadar of Haycraft’s, 
Sultan Jan, was the man pitched upon at last. He is the 
foxiest old beggar alive, and less known about here than 
most of our fellows.” 

“Only Sultan Jan?” in deep disappointment. “But 
you are dark — you know the language so well — you are 
such a good scout — you are going ? ” 

“I, Miss North? Why in the world ” 

“To find Dick, because you and he are such friends — 
because I ask you.” 

“ I am very much honoured, but surely the Commissioner 
is the natural person ” 

“The Commissioner would be too lame to go,” cried 
Mabel, in confusion, “ and even if he wasn’t, I couldn’t ask 
him.” Fitz’s look of surprise, less for the fact than for her 
mention of it, reminded her that her words must sound 
strangely in his ears. “ Perhaps I ought to explain,” she 
stammered. “ I — I am not engaged to Mr Burgrave 
now.” 

“ Oh, indeed ! ” said Fitz slowly, readjusting his ideas as 
he spoke. Only the night before he had heard Haycraft 


228 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


say to Flora that the Commissioner and Miss North must 
have quarrelled, for they had not spoken for days, and she 
was not wearing his ring. Certain hopes of Fitz’s own had 
sprung up anew at that moment, only to be dashed to earth 
again by Flora’s confident assurance that the estrangement 
could be only a temporary one. She was certain that the 
engagement was not broken off, or Mabel would have told 
her. Now, however, it appeared that Flora had been 
mistaken. 

Fitz drew a deep breath. “You want me to go in 
disguise and make inquiries about your brother, because 
you ask me ? Not so very long ago we were discussing a 
certain subject, and I agreed not to mention it again 
without your permission. If I go, will you give me that 
permission ? ” 

Mabel recoded from him, aghast. “You are trying to 
drive a bargain with me for Dick’s life?” she cried, in 
horror. “I should never have believed it of you.” 

“Oh, I am only looking at the matter in a business 
light. If I do your work, I should like to be sure of my 
wages.” 

“How can you talk in such a horrid mercenary way? 
It’s mean, ungentlemanly of you to try to entrap me like 
this ! I could not have imagined ” 

“ Please let us be business-like. Only, believe me, I had 
no idea of setting a trap.” 

“ Do you mean to say that if I refuse to let you speak 
to me again you won’t go ? ” 

“ That is not the question, allow me to remark. I ask 
you whether, if I go, I may enter upon the forbidden sub- 
ject when I come back ? ” 

“ I believe you are going whether I say Yes or No.” She 
looked at him sharply, but he did not change countenance 
in the least. “ Why should you take it into your head to 
spoil a thing that ought to be so splendid, by tacking on an 
odious condition to it ? ” 

“ I am afraid you won’t find it easy to move me either 
by hard words or soft ones. Is it a bargain ? ” 

“ If you mean that I am to promise to marry you if you 
go ” cried Mabel, her eyes blazing. 

“ I mean nothing of the kind. That is not in the bond. 
If I have such a curious fancy for being rejected by you 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION. 


229 


that I am willing to accept another refusal as the price of 
my services on this occasion, don’t you think you are getting 
off rather cheaply on the whole ? ” 

Mabel laughed shamefacedly. “ I believe you have only 
been tr3ring to tease me all along,” she said. “ Very well ; 
it is a bargain, then.” 

“ There’s something rather mysterious about this attempt 
to desert on the part of Mrs North’s servant,” said Colonel 
Graham to the Commissioner. “The men seem to feel 
strongly on the subject, but I can’t get any of them to 
speak out. I am not sure that it’s a case for a court- 
martial, and if you would join me in an informal inquiry 
into the affair, it might prevent bad feeling.” 

“With pleasure. But I don’t quite see where the civil 
power comes in, in a matter of this kind. Is it that the 
man’s status is really that of a civilian ? ” 

“He is a volunteer, of course” — Colonel Graham 
ignored the veiled reference to what Mr Burgrave still 
considered his usurpation of authority — “but as an old 
soldier, they all acknowledge that he is amenable to 
military discipline. What I can’t make out is the notion 
which seems to prevail that you have something to do with 
the matter, and that’s why I should like your assistance 
in inquiring into it.” 

“ You don’t imagine that I incite your volunteers to desert, 
I hope 1 ” said the Commissioner dryly, taking his seat be- 
side Colonel Graham, to await the arrival of the prisoner. 

“ If I could think so, the mystery would be cleared up. 
As it is — ” the Colonel broke off suddenly, on the entrance 
of the prisoner with his guards. He signed to the two 
sowars to retire out of earshot, and addressed their charge. 
“ I have sent for you privately because I hope that things 
are less black than they look against you, Ismail Bakhsh. 
That a man with your record should be detected in the act 
of deserting to the enemy seems preposterous, and I hope 
you may be able to show that your idea was to obtain in- 
formation of some kind. In that case your conduct might 
be passed over for once, as imprudent but not disgraceful.” 

“ I have nothing to say, sahib. I had my orders.” 

“ Orders from Bahram Khan 1 Don’t trifle with me, 
Ismail Bakhsh. Am I to give Mrs North the pain of 


230 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


knowing that her father’s orderly has been shot as a 
traitor 1 ” 

The old man drew himself up. “ Since I shall no longer 
be present to protect the Memsahib and her son, I will tell 
thee the truth, sahib, that thou mayest watch over them in 
my stead. My orders were from the Memsahib herself.” 

“Mrs North told you to desert?” cried the Colonel in- 
credulously. 

“The Memsahib bade me be ready to convey her and 
her son and her waiting- woman out of the fort at such an 
hour, and I obeyed her.” 

“ Oh, come, this is too much ! Why should Mrs North 
wish to leave the fort ? ” 

Ismail Bakhsh cast a fierce glance at Mr Burgrave, who 
had taken no part in the examination. “ I can guess the 
reason, sahib, but it is not expedient to accuse the great 
ones of the earth to their faces.” 

“Now what did I tell you?” asked Colonel Graham of 
the Commissioner. “ I said you were mixed up in it some- 
how. You would like to have the matter cleared up, of 
course ? ” 

“By all means,” said Mr Burgrave indifferently. The 
proceedings bored him, and he did not see why both the 
Colonel and Ismail Bakhsh should persist in bringing his 
name into them. 

“ Speak, and fear not,” said the Colonel. 

“ Thus then it is, saMb. When the Kumpsioner Sahib 
came to the border, he found the name of Sinjaj Kilin in 
all men’s mouths, and he hated it, and sought to throw 
dirt upon it, even as an upstart king seeks to defile the 
monuments of those that were before him. But there were 
yet living in the land Sinjaj Kilin’s daughter and her 
husband, Nath Sahib, to keep his name in remembrance, 
and therefore the Kumpsioner Sahib hated them also. His 
eye was evil against Nath Sahib, insomuch that he black- 
ened his face in the presence of the tribes and of the Amir 
of Nalapur. Then, because that was not sufficient, he 
suborned Bahram Khan to murder him” — the Commis- 
sioner, looking bored no longer, tried to interpose a protest, 
but Ismail Bakhsh disregarded it contemptuously — “and 
he thought all his enemies were removed, since there was 
only a woman left of the whole house of Sinjaj Kilin. But 


AN ATTEMPT AT DESERTION. 231 

when the Memsahib’s son was born, the Kumpsioner Sahib, 
remembering the evil deed he had done, feared lest the boy 
should grow up to avenge his father. The Ressaldar 
Ghulam Rasul can tell of the wrath and fear with which he 
heard of the child’s birth, and I myself have watched every 
night in the Memsahib’s verandah with my weapons, so that 
no harm should come to the Baba Sahib. And seeing that 
the Kumpsioner Sahib could not even dissemble his enmity 
so far as to come and take the child in his arms like the 
other sahibs, and send messages of good luck to the mother 
by the Miss Sahibs, I thought at least that he would fight 
with steel and not with drugs. But the Memsahib knew 
him better than I, and when this morning I received her 
order to help her to escape with the child, I knew that she 
thought it safer to take refuge with the Amir Sahib than to 
remain in this place. And now they will kill me ; but the 
charge of Sinjaj Kilin’s son is thine, sahib,” addressing the 
Colonel, “since the truth has been fully made known to 
thee by my mouth. For what says the proverb ? ‘ When 
the base-bom mounts the throne, it is ill to be a king’s son.’ 
Guard well the Baba Sahib, for the sake of Nath Sahib, 
thy friend. And as for the Kumpsioner Sahib, let him 
know that the men of the regiment have sworn by the holy 
Kaaba and the sacred well, and by the head of the Prophet 
of God, that he shall not escape. Once he has succeeded 
in slaying the Baba Sahib, no land shall be distant enough 
to afford him a refuge. Each man will hand down to his 
children the duty of slaying him, and his sons and brothers 
and nephews, and all his house, even as he has set himself 
to destroy the house of Sinjaj Kilin.” 

“ Good heavens ! ” said the Commissioner, passing his 
hand feebly over his damp brow,. “ do they actually suspect 
me of plotting to murder a woman and child — and of 
putting poor North out of the way?” 

“Suspect is not the word,” replied Colonel Graham, 
rather craeUy ; “ they are absolutely convinced of it.” 

“ This is one of the things that have to be lived down, I 
suppose. Well, the offence of our friend here seems to be a 
matter relating to me personally. Will you kindly release 
hiTn as a favour to me ? I think also it might be as well to 
let him do perpetual sentry-go in the verandah he seems 
to affect so much — take up his quarters there, in fact, and 


232 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


protect the baby from my machinations. And tell him that 
he is welcome to use his weapons on me if he catches me 
there under suspicious circumstances.” 

“ Are you inviting him to murder you 1 ” demanded the 
Colonel. 

“He doesn’t seem to need much invitation. But no 
amount of protestations will disabuse him of his theory, and 
it would be a pity to deprive Mrs North of such an attached 
servant. If you point out that last fact to him, it may give 
me a few years longer to live.” 

It was with deepening surprise and bewilderment that 
Ismail Bakhsh heard his sentence, which was delivered in 
terms of considerable pungency by Colonel Graham. Im- 
prisonment or hard labour would have seemed natural 
enough, death he had confidently expected; but what did 
this release mean 1 The Colonel’s indignant vindication of 
Mr Burgrave affected him not a whit ; but that the man he 
had accused betrayed neither guilt nor fear did cost him 
some searchings of heart. 


CHAPTER XrX. 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 

Mabel was not far wrong in guessing that before she spoke 
to Fitz it had been decided he should take part in Daffadar 
Sultan Jan’s reconnaissance. Colonel Graham’s choice had 
fallen upon him less on account of any merits he possessed 
than of his personal appearance. It could not be said that 
he outshone the other men in coolness or courage, and in 
knowledge of the surrounding country Winlock, at any rate, 
was his equal, but the determining point in his favour 
was the fact which his friends, dancing with rage the while, 
were forced to acknowledge, that he made up detestably 
well as a native. From his Irish mother he had inherited 
the Spanish type of colouring often found in Connaught 
and Western Munster, large dark eyes, black hair, and a 
skin so smooth and sallow that very little assistance from 
art was needed to assimilate it to the comparatively light 
tint prevailing among the frontier tribes. There were 
difficulties at first with Sultan Jan, who had once saved 
Haycraft’s life in a border skirmish, and had constituted 
himself a kind of nursing father to him ever since. He 
rejected with scorn the idea of taking any but his own 
particular sahib with him on his perilous journey, until it 
was pointed out to him that this would almost certainly 
involve the death of both. Haycraft’s fair hair, grey eyes, 
and sun-reddened complexion made it impossible to disguise 
him satisfactorily, and the old man yielded the point, un- 
graciously enough, when he had seen Fitz in native dress. 

A noted freebooter in his unregenerate days, Sultan Jan 
had never found it easy to submit his own will to that of 
his military superiors. Belonging to a powerful tribe across 
the border, he had been the terror of the outlying British 
districts, until one of General Keeling’s lieutenants induced 
him first to come in to a conference, and then to join the 

233 


234 


THE WARDEN OP THE MARCHES. 


regiment. His independent habits operated to prevent him 
from rising to any higher rank than that of daffadar, but 
he was a power in his troop, which was now largely com- 
posed of his nephews and cousins of many varying degrees. 
Haycraft would say sometimes that he was entirely devoid 
of the moral sense, and that his regard for the honour of 
the regiment was not wholly to be depended upon as a 
substitute, but as no one knew exactly what this condemna- 
tion implied, Haycraft’s brother-officers generally put it 
down to liver. One thing was certain, that Sultan Jan^s 
faithfulness to his salt was above suspicion, since he had 
on occasion assisted in inflicting punishment upon his own 
tribe for various raids, and there were special reasons for 
anticipating his success in the adventure he was undertak- 
ing. The scheme, indeed, had been entirely modified in 
accordance with his views, since Colonel Graham’s first 
intention had been that his messenger should turn south- 
wards, and cross the desert into the settled territory. 
Sultan Jan recommended a dash for Fort Rahmat-UUah 
instead, pointing out that if he and his companion chose a 
dark night for their start, they might swim down the canal 
for a considerable distance, supporting themselves on in- 
flated skins. When beyond the enemy’s farthest outposts, 
they could strike across the desert to the north until they 
reached the mountains, with every pass and track of which 
he was familiar. By certain little-known paths they could 
then make their way to Rahmat-Ullah, where there would 
be the chance of discovering what was going on in the out- 
side world, as well as of representing the hard plight of the 
defenders of Alibad. In returning they might, if oppor- 
tunity offered, acquaint themselves with the enemy’s dis- 
positions nearer home. 

The hour, and even the night, appointed for the start, 
were kept a profound secret from all but those immediately 
concerned, lest information should in any way be conveyed 
to the enemy, and it was not until a whole day had passed 
without a visit from Fitz, that the dwellers in the Mem- 
sahibs’ courtyard made up their minds that he was actually 
gone. Mabel, sitting in the safest of the four verandahs, 
with the baby in her arms, looked up anxiously when Flora 
came to tell her that Fred Haycraft admitted they were 
right in their surmise. 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


235 


“ Oh, poor Mr Anstruther ! ” she said. “ I do hope he 
won’t get hurt. I should feel so dreadfully guilty if any- 
thing happened to him.” 

“You needn’t, then,” said Flora bluntly, as Mabel 
stopped short, remembering that she had not intended to 
make public her compact with Fitz. “His going has 
nothing whatever to do with you. He was chosen as the 
most suitable man aU round, that’s all. Fred said so.” 

This was hardly to be borne. “ I didn’t mean to tell 
you,” said Mabel, with dignity, “ but I asked him to go, 
that he might make inquiries about Dick.” 

“ Oh ! ” cried Flora, suddenly enlightened ; “ then Fred 
was right after all, and you have broken off your engage- 
men. I never would have believed ” 

“ I really don’t see why you should jump to a conclusion 
in that way.” 

“ Why, because you couldn’t very well be engaged to two 
people at once.” 

“ I am not engaged to anybody,” very haughtily. 

“Not to Mr Anstruther 1 ” 

“ Certainly not.” 

“ And yet you make him run this awful risk for the sake 
of your brother '? Oh, nonsense ! he knows he will get his 
reward when he comes back.” 

“You don’t seem to understand,” coldly, “that some men 
are willing to do things without hope of reward. Since 
I have told you so much, I may as well say that if Mr 
Anstruther chooses to ask me to marry him when he comes 
back, he will do it knowing that I shall refuse him again.” 

“Again?” cried Flora. “Would you like to know what 
I think of you? Oh, I’m sure you wouldn’t, but I am 
going to tell you. If you happened to be plain — ^but no, if 
you were a plain woman, you wouldn’t find men to do this 
sort of thing for you — if you were any one but Queen Mab, 
people would say you were absolutely mecm / It’s simply 
and solely the celebrated smile that makes you able to do 
these horrid things, and you presume upon it.” 

“ Oh, don’t, please ! ” entreated Mabel. “ That’s Dick’s 
word.” 

The tables were turned, and Flora became the criminal 
instead of the avenger of justice. She had seized upon one 
of Mabel’s dearest memories with which to taunt her, and 


236 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


she was silent for very shame. It tended to deepen her 
remorse that Mabel betrayed no anger, only a gentle for- 
bearance that cut the accuser to the quick. 

“You don’t understand,” she said sadly, “and I don’t 
know that I understand it myself. You wouldn’t wish me 
to marry Fitz Anstruther if I don’t care for him, would 
you ? and he wouldn’t wish it either. But could I lose a 
chance of saving Dick because of that? It’s not as if I 
had pretended to give him any hope. I spoke perfectly 
plainly, and he quite sees how it is.” 

“ But you must care for him a little,” broke out Flora, 
“ when he is willing to do such a thing for you without any 
reward. Oh, you do, don’t you ? ” 

“ No,” said Mabel slowly, “ I’m sure I don’t. If I did, 
I couldn’t have let him go.” 

“Oh yes,” cried Flora hopefully, “for Mrs North’s sake, 
and your brother’s, you could give him up.” 

Mabel shook her] head. “I like him very much,” she 
said, “ but I don’t want to marry him.” 

“ Now that’s what I say is being mean ! ” cried Flora. 
“ You get all you want out of him, and offer him nothing 
in return, because he is generous enough to work without 
payment. He has made himself too cheap.” 

“WeU, I am very sorry, but I don’t see how I can help 
it. If I want things done, and he is willing to do them on 
my conditions, would you have me refuse ? ” 

“ Did your Browning studies with the Commissioner ever 
take you as far as the story of the lady and the glove ? ” 
asked Flora suddenly. “ The knight fetched her glove out 
of the lions’ den, you know, and then threw it in her face. 
Mr Anstruther would never do anything so rude, but I 
should really love to advise him to try how you would feel 
towards him after a little wholesome neglect.” 

“ Mr Anstruther is a gentleman,” said Mabel, growing red. 

“ And you trade upon that too ! Oh, Mab, you don’t 
deserve to have a nice man in love with you. It would 
serve you right if a William the Conqueror sort of person 
came, and urged his suit with a horsewhip.” 

“You are so absurd. Flora. I do wish you wouldn’t 
bother. I don’t want to marry any one, if you would only 
believe it. I’m quite satisfied as I am,” and Mabel rose 
with a flushed face, and carried the baby indoors. 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


237 

That day and the next passed without any news of the 
adventurers, but on the second night after their departiu'e 
the sentries on the south rampart were startled by a hail 
which seemed to come from the canal. The moon had long 
set, and nothing could be distinguished in the misty dark- 
ness, but again the cry came, weak and quavering, as if 
uttered by a man all but exhausted. The listening sowars 
grew pale, and whispered fearfully that the murdered irriga- 
tion ofl&cer. Western, whose body had been thrown by the 
enemy into the canal at the beginning of the siege, was 
claiming the funeral rites of which he had been deprived. 
The whisper soon reached the ears of Woodworth, who was 
on duty, and rating the men heartily for their superstition, 
he went down at once to the water-gate. Here, clinging to 
the poles which sustained the canvas screen placed to protect 
the water-carriers, they found Fitz, barely able to speak, 
supporting Sultan Jrn’s head on his shoulder. The old 
man, who was covered with wounds, and almost insensible, 
was partially upheld by the inflated skin to which he was 
tied, but his helplessness had obliged Fitz to propel the 
skin before him as he swam. It was with the greatest 
difficulty that the many willing helpers succeeded in bringing 
the two men, one almost as powerless as the other, up the 
steps and in at the gate, and when they were safely inside, 
both were carried at once to the hospital, and delivered over 
to the care of Dr Tighe. The news of their return spread 
through the fort as soon as it was light, but it was not 
until the evening, when Haycraft came into the inner court- 
yard after a visit to the hospital, that the ladies learned 
anything of the adventures they had met with. 

“ I haven’t seen much of Anstruther,” he said, in answer 
to the eager questions which greeted him. “ He was only 
allowed to talk for a few minutes, and of course the Colonel 
had to hear all he could tell, but I have a message for you. 
Miss North. He could not discover anything to justify 
Mrs North in believing that the Major is still alive. The 
few men to whom he ventured to put a question were 
positive that neither Bahram Khan nor the Amir have 
any white prisoners, and he believes they were speaking 
the truth.” 

“ Oh dear ! I was so hoping — ” sighed Mabel. “ But of 
course he could not help it.” 


238 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Help it? Scarcely. He has done wonders as it is. 
I have just been hearing all about it from Sultan Jan, who 
was frantic lest he should die before he could tell his story. 
The doctor said it would do the old fellow less harm to talk 
than to lie there fuming, so I listened to the whole thing, 
and took notes, just to satisfy him.” 

“ Oh, do tell us what they did,” cried Mabel and Flora 
together. 

“ Well, things seem to have panned out all right just at 
first. They got past the enemy’s outposts, and swam a good 
bit farther before they thought it safe to take to dry land. 
When they had let the air out of their skins, they hid them 
on the opposite bank of the canal, so as to throw any one 
who found them off the scent, and swam over. They man- 
aged to get across the desert before it was light, so that they 
were not seen, but in the mountains, where they expected 
to find everything easy, their troubles began. They were 
scouting awfully carefully, and yet they all but dropped into 
a pleasant little party of Sultan Jan’s own tribesmen.” 

“ But why was that a trouble ? ” interrupted Flora. “ I 
should have thought it was the best thing that could happen 
to them.” 

“ Flora is just a little bit apt to jump at conclusions,” 
said Haycraft, in a stage aside to Mabel, dodging dexterously 
the palm-leaf fan which Flora threw at him. “ If she would 
just consider that Sultan Jan’s tribe are fighting for Bahram 
Khan, she would see that family relations might possibly be 
a little strained if they met. Well, nearly the whole day 
our two fellows dodged about among the hills, trying to find 
a path left unguarded, but there wasn’t one. You see, the 
tribe know the locality as well as Sultan Jan does, and they 
have picketed all the passes for the benefit of any traders 
who may come by. So at night our men slipped down into 
the desert again, and struck out for Rahmat-Ullah by that 
route. But the level ground was dangerous too, owing to 
a few other bodies of Bahram Khan’s adherents, who don’t 
dare dispute the mountain paths with the hillmen, but keep 
their eyes open for anything that may come their way. 
After avoiding two or three lots of them with difficulty, 
Sultan Jan suggested taking a short rest in a cave that he 
knew of, and going on again when the moon set. Unfortu- 
nately, the cave had also occurred to other people as a nice 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


239 


place for a night’s lodging, and before they had been asleep 
very long, they were Avaked by the arrival of a whole party 
of belated travellers, some of the very fellows they had 
escaped just before. Why, Miss North ” 

“ No, no, it’s nothing. Please go on,” said Mabel, who 
had shivered violently. 

“Old Sultan Jan had all his wits about him, and cried 
out at once that he and his son had quarrelled with their 
tribe, and were coming to Alibad to take service with 
Bahram Khan. The other men cross-questioned them a 
good deal, but finding nothing suspicious in their answers, 
agreed to take them on with them to Alibad in the morning. 
Of course it was a blow not being able to go on to Rahmat- 
Ullah, but they didn’t mind that so much when they found 
out from their new friends that the people there are practi- 
cally as much besieged as we are. The tribes have given 
up attempting to rush the place, but they hold the passes, 
and it’s impossible for the fellows in the fort to force them 
until there’s a relieving column ready to co-operate at the 
other end.” 

“ But what about the relieving column ? ” broke in Flora. 
“ Is it never coming ? ” 

“ In the course of a few centuries, I suppose. There 
seems to be the usual transport difficulty, to judge by the 
way the tribesmen are chortling over the loss of time. Of 
course Anstruther and Sultan Jan made good use of their 
ears, and learned all they could without asking suspicious 
questions. In the morning they started off with their 
fellow-lodgers in this direction, and I must say I don’t envy 
their feelings. If they had happened to meet one of Sultan 
Jan’s tribe, it would have been all up. However, the rotten 
discipline of Bahram Khan’s lot stood them in good stead. 
It seems that the permanent investing force here consists 
only of his personal hangers-on and a detachment from the 
Nalapur army, which the Amir has made as small as he 
dares, and would like to recall altogether. All the rest — 
the tribesmen and robber bands — start off whenever they 
like to raid along the frontier, just leaving representatives 
in the town to see how things go, so as to make sure of not 
missing their share in the loot when this place falls. There’s 
one good thing — they’ll have established such a sweet 
reputation among the country-people that we shan’t have 


240 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


much trouble in hunting them down when the rising is 
over.” 

“ Aren’t you counting your chickens a little too soon 'i ” 
asked Mabel, with a rather strained smile. “ And we are 
forgetting ” 

“ Our two fellows 1 So we are. I’m an awful chap for 
wandering away from the point. Well, they found Bahram 
Khan established in the court-house, which was in a horrible 
state of squalor, overlaid with a little cheap magnificence. 
He received them with every appearance of friendliness, 
though they were certain he suspected them. They had 
nothing to go upon, for he treated them royally, and pro- 
mised them both posts in his bodyguard, but they felt sure 
there was something wrong. They expected to be denounced 
every minute, but he was too wily for that. Before letting 
them go to their quarters at night, he informed them confi- 
dentially that he had just finished constructing a mine 
reaching from General Keeling’s house to our east curtain, 
and that it was to be exploded the next day. They should 
form part of the storming-party, and have the honour of 
leading. Of course they pretended to accept with tre- 
mendous delight, but he had got them in an awful fix. 
There was just the one hope that the mine did not really 
exist at all, but when they asked the rest about it, they 
were shown the entrance, though they were not allowed to 
go down into it, because of the explosives put ready there, 
the fellows said. I think myself, and so does Kuncorn, 
that the soil is much too light for them to be able to dig 
such a length of tunnel without its falling in, and that we 
must have heard them at work if they had got as near as 
they make out, but of course Anstruther dared not trust to 
the chance. He didn’t venture to speak to Sultan Jan, but 
they managed to give each other a look which meant that 
they must get away and warn us. Of course that was just 
what Bahram Khan had been counting upon, and they 
found that their quarters for the night were in the stables 
belonging to the court-house, where all their new comrades 
slept. There were sentries in the yard in front, which 
looked as if something was expected to happen. Anstruther 
and Sultan Jan had one of the stalls to themselves, and as 
soon as ever the rest seemed to be asleep, they set to work 
to dig through the wall with their daggers, one working. 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


241 


and the other lying so as to screen him from the sentry, or 
any one else who might look in. Just before they broke 
through, it struck them to ask one another what was on the 
other side. They knew there was a lane at the back of the 
stables, but would they come out into the full moonlight or 
the shadow, and was there another sentry there? After 
listening carefully, they settled that there, wasn’t a sentry, 
but they couldn’t decide upon the moonlight, so they had 
to chance it. While Sultan Jan dug away the mud bricks, 
Anstruther was heaping up the straw they had been lying 
upon to hide the hole, and arranging their poshteens ^ to 
look as if they were still there. Happily, when they got 
through, they were on the dark side of the lane. They 
crept out, and built up the hole again as well as they could 
from the outside. It was awfully nervous work, for a patrol 
might come along at any minute, but at last they were able 
to be off. They wriggled along in the shadow, and Sultan 
Jan led the way towards the east side of the town. Of 
course it was a fearful round, but they couldn’t risk passing 
the enemy’s headquarters again. The moon bothered them 
horribly, for they knew that until it set there was no hope 
of passing the outpost at the old godowns on the bank, even 
if they got to the canal safely. They reached the desert all 
right through the by-lanes, and made tracks for the point 
at which they had landed two nights before, but to get to 
it they had to pass the house of one of the Hindu canal- 
officials, who seems to have been left in possession in return 
for doing some sort of dirty work for Bahram Khan. There 
was a dog which made a row, and the Hindu came out and 
caught them. Sultan Jan wanted to kill him, but 
Anstruther wouldn’t hear of it, so they asked for a night’s 
lodging in one of the outbuildings, intending, of course, to 
slip away as soon as he was gone to bed again. But he 
insisted on bringing out food, and sat up talking to them, 
while they were agonising to get rid of him. And all the 
time he must have sent some one to the town to give the 
alarm, for suddenly he changed countenance and got con- 
fused as he talked, and they looked at the door, and there 
were Bahram Khan’s men. In a moment they were in the 
thick of a tremendous rough-and-tumble %ht. There was 


Sheepskin-lined coats. 


Q 


242 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


no room inside the hut to use rifles, but both sides had 
daggers, and the enemy tulwars. Anstruther says he 
fought mostly with his fists, and the enemy seemed to think 
that wasn’t fair, for pretty soon they began to give him a 
wide berth. Just as he got out of the scrimmage, Sultan 
Jan went down, and in falling knocked over the lamp and 
put it out. The enemy devoted their attention to one 
another for some little time before they saw what had 
happened, and then they started to find Anstruther. He 
was standing up, perfectly quiet, against the side of the hut, 
and he says it nearly turned his brain to hear the fellows 
feeling for him in the dark, while he knew that his only 
hope was not to move. They didn’t find him — ^actually ! 
but they found the Hindu instead. He had been hiding in 
a corner in an awful fright, and they killed him, and having 
accounted for two, thought they had done their business. 
They didn’t stop to mutilate the bodies, apparently because 
there was a false alarm in the town just then. You know 
one of our men let off his rifle by mistake last night, and 
we noticed that the enemy seemed a good deal disturbed. 
Well, there was Anstruther left in the hut, with what he 
believed to be Sultan Jan’s dead body. And this is what 
the old man can’t get over — he wouldn’t leave him to be 
cut up by those swine, but dragged him down to the canal, 
and when he had fetched over one of the skins and blown 
it out, tied him on to it, and started to swim up here. But 
as soon as the cold water touched Sultan Jan’s wounds, he 
revived, and was able to put one arm round Anstruther’s 
neck, and so make it a little easier for him. But it was 
tremendous — simply tremendous, and if ever any man 
deserved the V.C., Anstruther does, though of course he 
won’t get it, being merely a poor wretch of a civilian.” 

“ Why, Mab ! ” cried Flora, for Mabel had risen suddenly. 
Her eyes were dilated and her cheeks flushed, and she looked 
more beautiful than the others had ever seen her. They 
almost expected her to break out into an impassioned 
eulogy of Fitz’s achievement, but the sight of their astonish- 
ment seemed to recall her to herself, and she faltered and 
grew crimson. 

“ Oh, it’s too splendid ! ” she stammered. “ I — I can’t 
bear it,” and they heard a sob as she rushed away. 

“ I say ! ” remarked Haycraft, with meaning in his tone. 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


243 


“ Fred ! ” responded Flora, in a voice of such crushing 
severity that he hastened to apologise, and to assure her 
that he had not meant anything. 

“Of course not. Why should you mean anything?” 
demanded Flora. 

“ Oh no, naturally. There was nothing that should make 
any one mean anything,” he said lamely ; whereupon, as a 
reward for his docility. Flora assured him she had great 
hopes that everything would come right, and when it did, 
he should know all about it, but that if he went and fancied 
things and made trouble, she would never speak to him 
again. 

“ All right ! Henceforth I am blind and deaf and dumb,” 
he declared. 

“ That’s right ! When you can’t do anything to help, at 
least you needn’t spoil things. Oh, but that reminds me, 
Fred. I am not blind and deaf, you know. Is it true that 
Mr Beardmore is dead, as the servants say 1 ” 

“ Yes, poor chap ! and it was only last night that we 
were chaffing him about being seedy. He was so perfectly 
happy looking after the stores, you know, and we said he 
couldn’t bear to think that he would soon have to write to 
the Colonel, ‘ Sir, I have the honour to report that the last 
ounce of food has been distributed according to instructions. 
Please send further orders.’ His occupation would be gone, 
you see.” 

“Yes,” said Flora absently; “but, Fred — only last night? 
That’s fearfully sudden. Was it — is it true that it was — 
cholera ? ” 

“ Hush ! ” said Haycraft, looking round apprehensively, 
“ you mustn’t let it get about. If it’s once suspected that 
cholera has broken out, we shall have the natives dying like 
flies of sheer terror. And there’s no occasion for panic. It 
was the poor fellow’s own fault — a case of the ruling 
passion, you know. He was mad to make the stores last 
out as long as possible, and there were a lot of tins that 
Tighe condemned as unfit for food. Beardmore was certain 
they were all right, and backed his opinion by trying one — 
with this result. But you see how it is. There’s no reason 
for any one else to be frightened.” 

“ I’m glad you told me,” was Flora’s only answer, “ for 
now I can help to keep it from the rest.” 


244 


THE WAEDKN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ You’re a trump, Flo ! I’d share a secret with you as 
soon as with any man I know.” And with this unromantic 
tribute Flora was wholly satisfied. 

Mabel had rushed away to her own room, and was now 
lying sobbing upon her bed, with her face pressed tightly 
into the pillow, lest any sound should reach Georgia’s ears 
through the thin partition. At this moment even the news 
of the outbreak of cholera would not have disquieted her, 
for she had other things to think of. It seemed to her that 
a veil had been suddenly removed from her eyes, with the 
result that for the first time she saw Fitz Anstruther as he 
really was. “ That boy,” as she had been wont to caU him, 
with friendly, half-contemptuous patronage, was a hero. 
He had gloried in making himself generally useful to Dick 
and Georgia, doing anything that needed doing, and 
requiring no thanks for it. Mabel herself had made a slave 
of him — a willing slave, undoubtedly, for he had entered 
into all her whims with a ready zest, not merely submitting 
to them, but furthering them. Why was this 1 Not because 
he was fit for nothing better than humouring her fancies, as 
she had been inclined to think, but because that was the 
way in which he had deliberately chosen to do her homage. 
It was because he loved her. Had he chosen, he could have 
beaten down her defences long ago, but his love knew itself 
so strong that it could afford to wait. It refused to accept 
defeat, but it responded to her appeal for mercy. Mabel 
sprang up from her bed, and began to walk about the room. 
She could not be still. 

“ Oh, how can he ? how can he ? ” she demanded of her- 
self. “To care for me so tremendously after the way I 
have treated him — a man who can do such splendid things ! 
How can I ever meet him? I daren’t face him. He’ll 
guess. I should be too dreadfully ashamed to let him know 
I have changed so suddenly. It seemed to come all at once. 
Oh, why didn’t I care for Mm a little before ? why did I say 
those awful things to him only the other day? why did I 
let even Flora see what a mean wretch I was ? She said 
herself that I was mean. And now they’ll all think it’s 
just because he deserves the V.C. that I care for him, and 
it’s not. It isn’t what he did, but what he is — but no one 
will believe it. He has been quite as splendid all the time, 
and I never saw it ; and when he speaks to me again, he’ll 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


245 


think that I — I am different to him just because he didn’t 
leave Sultan Jan to die. As if that signified ! It’s — it’s 
simply because he cares for me that I care for him.” 

These considerations, though they might seem somewhat 
inconsistent with one another, made Mabel sit down in 
despair to think the matter out. First of all, how was she 
to nerve herself to meet Fitz again ? and next, how was he 
to be brought to perceive the delicate distinction, that she 
loved him not because he had done a great thing, but 
because the doing of it had revealed his real self to her ? 

“I know,” she said to herself at last; “I will meet him 
just as usual. I think I have pride and self-respect enough 
left for that, and when he speaks to me again I won’t accept 
him at once. I won’t refuse him again, of course, or at 
any rate, not definitely. I will be kinder, and give him a 
little hope. Then he will feel at liberty to try again,” she 
laughed nervously ; “ and I can give in by degrees, so that 
he will understand how it reaUy is. Oh dear ! how glad I 
am that he made that condition the other day.” 

For two or three days she waited impatiently, unable to 
carry out her plan, for Dr Tighe announced loudly that he 
was keeping Fitz a prisoner in hospital, and that he found 
him a perfect angel of a patient, not fussing a bit to be out 
before it was safe to let him go. Mabel received the state- 
ment with secret incredulity, judging of Fitz’s feelings by 
her own, but when she did see him next, the meeting 
proved grievously disappointing. On the first day of his 
convalescence Mrs Hardy invited him to tea in the inner 
courtyard, with the special intimation that his mission there 
was to cheer up the inmates, and he did his duty nobly. 
The tea was very weak, and without milk, and Anand 
Masih, with shamefaced reluctance, handed round a few 
broken biscuits — the last that could be mustered — in his 
mistress’s shining silver basket. It wounded his hospitable 
soul to see guests invited to a Barmecide feast, and when 
Mrs Hardy alluded pleasantly to the care he showed in 
keeping everything nice, he was covered with confusion. 
Fitz, decorated in several places with bandages and sticking- 
plaster, was the life of the party. He was particularly 
amusing on the subject of the stores, which came naturally 
to the front, since the rations had been reduced that day, 
in consequence of the deficiency caused by the unsoundness 


246 


THE WARDEN OF THB MARCHES. 


of some of the tinned provisions, of which Haycraft had 
spoken to Flora. Mabel sat listening, with an impatience 
that was almost disgust, to his funny stories of sieges and 
the shifts to which other besieged garrisons had been put — 
stories so palpably absurd that they could not shed any 
additional gloom on the present situation. Then he turned 
upon Rahah, who came out of Georgia’s room, followed by 
her inseparable companion, the great Persian cat. She had 
brought the baby for Fitz to see, with her mistress’s com- 
pliments, and was not the Baba Sahib grown ? 

“ I’m looking with wolfish eyes at that cat of yours, ayah,” 
he said, after duly admiring the baby. “ Some morning you 
will find it gone.” 

“Then the Dipty Sahib will be found shot by Ismail 
Bakhsh,” said Rahah, unmoved. 

“ Why, you don’t mean to say you would have me killed 
for trying to get one good meal ? You shouldn’t keep the 
creature so fat if you don’t want it stolen, you know. What 
do you feed it on — rats ? ” 

“ The cat shares with me, sahib.” 

“ Well, that’s very noble of you, I’m sure ; but it would 
really be safer for the poor thing if you let it shift for 
itself.” 

“‘No one will eat the cat but my Memsahib,” said Rahah 
severely. “ When there is no food left, it wiU preserve her 
life for two or three days, and that is why I feed it with my 
own ration, sahib.” 

She departed with dignity, and the rest did not dare 
to laugh until she was out of hearing. Then Fitz took the 
lead in the conversation again, and talked away until 
Dr Tighe appeared suddenly and haled him back to the 
hospital. Mabel was disappointed — bitterly disappointed. 
She had felt certain that he would perceive a change in her, 
even while she scouted the idea of allowing him to divine 
the cause of it, but he had not seemed to think of her 
at all. However, he imagined, no doubt, that he was 
consulting her wishes by ignoring their compact altogether, 
and she consoled herself with thinking that things would 
be different to-morrow. But they were not. Day after 
day Fitz paid his afternoon visit to the courtyard, rattled 
away to Flora or Mrs Hardy or herself, and seemed to 
desire nothing more. She was puzzled. Could it be that 


AN IMPOTENT CONCLUSION. 


247 


he had actually forgotten their agreement, perhaps as a 
result of some injury to his brain ? But no ; it was evident 
that his mind was as clear as ever. What was it, then? 
Had he determined, during those long hours in the hospital, 
to crush down and root out the love which had met with 
so poor a return ? Had her change of feeling come too late ? 
Or, worst of all, had he seen her character too clearly in 
that last interview — had she shown herself in such colours 
of hardness and ingratitude that he had now no desire 
to ask his question again? Mabel writhed under the 
thought. Her one consolation was in the assurance that 
he had not perceived the change in her. She would die 
rather than let him know that her heart had warmed 
towards him as his had cooled towards her ; and yet — such 
is the inconsistency of human nature — she felt it would kill 
her to go on in this way, and she did not wish to die just 
yet. Even when he was alone with her, there was nothing 
loverlike in his manner, and she felt bitterly that the tables 
were turned. It was she who now listened in vain for any 
softening in his voice, who longed to be allowed to do 
things for him, and could not, for very shame, offer her 
services. At first she was piqued by lus behaviour, then 
hurt, at last made thoroughly miserable ; but she flattered 
herself that she hid her trouble from the world, at least 
as well as Fitz had hitherto contrived to hide his. For 
this reason it was a blow to discover one day that Mrs 
Hardy, who had been exclusively occupied with Georgia 
for some time, was now at leisure to think of other people’s 
affairs. She opened her attack without the slightest warning 
beforehand. 

“ I don’t like to see you looking so doleful. Miss North,” 
she said briskly, finding Mabel sitting idle, in a somewhat 
disconsolate attitude. 

“ Why, do you think all our circumstances are so bright 
that I ought to be cheerful too ? ” asked Mabel, roused to 
defend herseK. Mrs Hardy looked at her critically. 

“It’s not circumstances that are wrong in your case; 
it’s yourself. You needn’t try to blind me. Think of 
poor Mrs North. Do you ever see her looking doleful, 
or hear a murmur from her? No; because she persists 
in being cheerful for the child’s sake and ours. You 
have spirit enough, too, to be bright before other people, 


248 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES, 


but when you are alone you drop the mask. Can you 
deny it ? ” 

“ At least I don’t drop the mask until I think I’m alone.” 
The emphasis was marked. 

“ Now don’t be angry with me for having my eyes open. 
I only want to see you happy. Why, child, you needn’t 
be afraid to confide in me ; I have lived a good deal longer 
than you, and seen about ten times as much. You’re not 
the first person that has done a foolish thing in a hasty 
moment, and been sorry for it afterwards.” 

“ I — I don’t know what you mean,” stammered Mabel. 

“ Why, dear me ! what a pity it is to see two people 
going on at cross-purposes like this ! Can’t you bring 
yourself to let him know you’re sorry ? He’s a proud man, 
we all know that, but he won’t be proud to you. Why, he 
is sufifering as much as you are, and the least word from 
you would bring him back.” 

“ It never struck me that pride had anything to do with 
it,” said Mabel, surprised. 

“That’s where a looker-on can see more than you do. 
Now, don’t you be proud either. I suppose he made too 
much of his authority over you, and you were angry and 
insisted on giving him back his ring ” 

“ His ring ! ” gasped Mabel. 

“ Well, you are not wearing it, so I presume you gave it 
back. Now, just let me hint to him, in the very most 
delicate way in the world, of course, that you miss that 
ring from your finger, and trust me, it will be back there 
before another hour is over, and you and he both as happy 


But, to Mrs Hardy’s astonishment and indignation, 
Mabel burst into a wild peal of laughter. “ Oh, you 
mean thatV^ she cried. “Why, that happened centuries 
ago. I had forgotten all about it ! ” 


CHAPTER XX 


THE FOECES OF NATUEB, 

The days dragged slowly by in the beleaguered fort. The 
enemy’s extraordinary dislike of coming to close quarters, 
and the consequent absence of direct attacks, tried the en- 
durance of the garrison sorely. It showed, no doubt, that 
the tribes retained a wholesome remembrance of past hand- 
to-hand encounters, and were now actuated rather by a 
desire for loot than by any fanatical hatred of British rule ; 
but it showed also that their leaders believed they had 
abundance of time before them. Moreover, while Bahram 
Khan maintained the investment with a cynical contempt 
for the relieving force which did not appear, the numbers 
of the defenders were dwindling. The death-roll did not in- 
deed increase by leaps and bounds, as would have been the case 
after a series of fierce assaults, but the relentless monotony 
of its daily growth was scarcely less terrible. Disease had 
obtained a firm foothold in the crowded courtyards and 
narrow passages, and the supply of medicines and dis- 
infectants was as limited as that of food had proved to be. 
A sowar dropped here, a Sikh there, next two or three of 
the wretched Hindu refugees, then one of the wounded in 
the hospital, unable to resist the poisoned atmosphere of 
the place. The tiny patch of garden — once the despair of 
the Club committee, because nothing but weeds would 
grow in it — which had been used as a cemetery, was soon 
over-full, and now silent burying-parties stole down nightly 
to the water-gate, and were ferried across the canal to con- 
duct a hasty funeral on the opposite bank. Mabel and 
Flora will never forget the night they stood on the south 
rampart to see Captain Leyward’s body carried out. He 
had been desperately wounded when he took command of 
the escort in the Akrab Pass, after Dick was struck down, 
and although Dr Tighe was hopeful at first, it was not long 


250 


THE WAEDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


before the case took an unfavourable turn. In order that 
the enemy should not discover these sallies of the garrison, 
the funeral rites were maimed indeed. There was no 
question of a band or a firing-party, and as it was not 
allowable even to use a lantern, Mr Hardy repeated portions 
of the Burial Service from memory. The grave, which 
had , been hastily dug as soon as darkness came on, was 
made absolutely level with the surrounding sand as soon 
as it had been filled up. Its bearings were taken by com- 
pass in the hope of happier days to come, but no mark was 
placed upon it, for to point out that a British officer lay 
there would have been to invite the desecration of the spot. 
The two girls watched the dark mass of figures melt into 
the blackness beyond the embankment, and strained their 
eyes in vain to catch a glimpse of the group round the 
grave. They could see and hear nothing until the sudden 
creaking of the ferry- wires announced that the burial-party 
was returning, and soon afterwards Colonel Graham came 
up to the rampart and ordered them down to bed. 

Mabel wondered very much what Georgia’s thoughts 
were at this time. She never alluded to the wild impulse 
which had led her to try and leave the fort, but she seemed to 
shrink into herself, and liked to be left alone with the baby 
for hours. When her friends came to speak to her, she 
showed an impatience that surprised them, until at last, 
in a burst of contrition for the irritation she had shown, 
she explained that she was listening for Dick’s voice. She 
could hear it sometimes when the baby and she were alone 
together, but if there were other people in the room, their 
voices seemed to drown it. “What did he say?” Mabel 
ventured to ask, awed by her sister-in-law’s tone of absolute 
conviction, and Georgia confessed, with some disappoint- 
ment, that he had not said anything particular. It was as 
if they were just talking together as usual about things in 
general, and the conversation would break off abruptly, as 
if she was waking out of a dream. Mabel was disappointed 
also. If Dick could really speak to his wife from the dead, 
surely he would communicate his wishes about the boy’s 
bringing-up, or some subject of similar importance; but 
this casual talk — what could it be but a delusion of 
Georgia’s troubled brain, which could not distinguish be- 
tween dreams and realities ? 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 


251 

In the meantime, the reconnaissance which Fitz had 
made in company with Sultan Jan was not entirely 
destitute of results. The news that a mine was in course 
of construction had alarmed Colonel Graham more than 
he cared to show, although the most careful investigations 
possible in the circumstances went to prove that the tunnel 
had not at present reached the neighbourhood of the walls. 
Rimcorn, who took the matter very much to heart, regarding 
it as a sign that he had not been sufficiently on the alert, 
obtained permission to make a solitary reconnaissance on 
two successive nights, and managed on the second occasion 
to creep across the cleared space, and up to the very walls 
of General Keeling’s house. By dint of long and careful 
listening, with his ear to the ground, he satisfied himself 
that work was going on briskly, but that the tunnel was 
not yet nearly long enough to threaten the east curtain. 
After this, he held much consultation with Fitz, and the 
two formulated a desperate scheme. They proposed to 
creep into the enemy’s entrenchments, carrying with them 
a supply of explosives, and blow up the mine before it was 
carried any farther, destroying at the same time General 
Keeling’s house, in the compound of which was the en- 
trance shown to Fitz. The Colonel vetoed the plan 
promptly, but its inventors were not to be discouraged, 
and produced a fresh modification of it every day, until 
circumstances intervened with decisive effect to prevent its 
execution. 

On a certain night Mabel awoke with the impression 
that she was passing anew through the most disagreeable 
experience of her voyage out — a gale in the Bay of Biscay. 
She could feel the ship trembling — it had been rolling just 
now — the passengers were screaming, and the wind seemed 
to be howling on all sides at once. 

“ A mast gone ! ” she said to herself, with a vague recol- 
lection of sea-stories read in youth, as she heard a fearful 
crash ; “ but the wind howls just as if we were on land. I 
wonder whether I had better try to get on deck ? Why ! — 
but how can we be on land 1 ” 

It was most confusing. She was awake now, and 
realised that the voyage had ended long ago, but it seemed 
impossible not to believe that she was still on board ship, 
for the floor was shaking when she stood upon it, and the 


252 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


little square of grey darkness which marked the position 
of the window was wavering about just as a porthole would 
naturally do in rough weather. 

“Am I going madl” Mabel demanded of herself, yield- 
ing to a sudden lurch, and sitting down unsteadily on the 
side of her bed. “No, I am actually beginning to feel 
sea-sick — that must be real, at any rate. Why, it must be 
the mine ! ” — she sprang up, and threw on her dressing- 
gown and a cloak over it — “ and what about Georgie and 
the boy?” 

She tried to open her door, but the handle refused to act, 
and she was struggling with it frantically when she heard 
Mr Hardy’s voice calling to her from outside. 

“ Kick, please ! ” she cried through the keyhole. “ I 
can’t get it open.” 

A violent blow on the lower part of the door released 
the handle, at the same time that it sent Mabel staggering 
back into the room. In the semi-darkness she could dimly 
discern the old clergyman supporting himself by one of the 
pillars of the verandah, his white beard blown hither and 
thither by the wind. 

“ Your sister and the baby ! ” he cried. “We must get 
them out. My wife has sent me to see that they are 
safe.” 

“ What has happened ? ” gasped Mabel, as they made a 
dash side by side for Georgia’s verandah. 

“ Our roof has fallen in. My wife is partly buried, but 
she won’t let me do anything for her till Mrs North is safe. 
What’s this?” 

A groan answered him, and the object over which he had 
stumbled proved to be Kahah, pinned to the ground by one 
of the beams from the verandah, which had struck her 
down and imprisoned her foot. Mr Hardy and Mabel 
succeeded in releasing the foot, not, however, in response 
to any appeal on Kahah’s part, for she entreated them 
Incessantly to go and save the doctor lady and the Baba 
Sahib. 

“We must carry her out on her bed,” panted Mabel, as 
they reached Georgia’s door, which had shut with a bang 
after Rahah had rushed out to see what was the matter, 
Mr Hardy forced it open with an effort of which Mabel 
would not have believed him capable, and they found 


THE FORCES OP NATURE. 253 

Georgia sitting up in bed, with the baby clasped in her 
arms. 

“ Lie down again, Mrs North, and hold the child tight,” 
said Mr Hardy cheerily, and he and Mabel seized the bed- 
stead, and succeeded in dragging it to the door. Here, 
however, it stuck fast, and in the darkness they could not 
see what was the matter. To add to the horror of this 
detention, the ominous shaking began again, and fragments 
of wood and tiles began to clatter down from the part of 
the verandah which remained standing. 

“ Oh, what shall we do ? ” cried Mabel in an agony, as 
she pulled and pushed, and Mr Hardy tugged and strained, 
without effect. “We must leave the bed, and help her 
to walk.” 

“No, no,” said a voice behind her, and she felt herself 
moved gently aside. “Take the boy and carry him into 
the middle of the yard, and we will manage this.” 

She obeyed unquestioningly, and saw Fitz strike a match, 
which shed a flickering light on the scene. Extinguishing 
the light carefully, he called to Mr Hardy to pull the bed- 
stead back and turn it slightly, thus bringing it through the 
doorway without difficulty. They carried it out to the spot 
where Mabel was standing, and Fitz raced back immediately 
into the room, to return with an umbrella and all the rugs 
he could lay hands upon. 

“ Hold it over her head. We shall have torrents of rain 
in a minute or two ! ” he cried, as he went to the help of 
Mr Hardy, who was trying to lift Kahah away from the 
dangerous spot where she lay. 

“Are there mines aU round us?” asked Mabel in be- 
wilderment, as they returned, just escaping the fall of 
another portion of the roof. 

“ Mines ! This is an earthquake ! ” he called back, start- 
ing again to the relief of Mrs Hardy, of whose uncomfortable 
position her husband’s stammering and excited accents had 
only just made him aware. 

“ "^ere is the Baba Sahib ? ” cried a frantic voice, and 
Ismail Bakhsh crawled up, bruised and dishevelled ; “ and 
what of my Memsahib ? ” 

“ Safe, fool ! ” answered Rahah contemptuously, as she 
sat nursing her injured foot, “ and no thanks to thee.” 

“Peace, woman! Did not the verandah roof descend 


254 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


upon me as I sat beneath it, and did I not lie there senseless 
until I came to myself and fought my way out to help the 
Baba Sahib and his mother ? ” 

“If you are able to move, Ismail Bakhsh, go and help 
the sahibs to dig out the Padri’s Mem,” said Georgia faintly, 
cutting short the squabble, and Ismail Bakhsh obeyed. 
Before very long the rescuers came back triumphant, in 
company with Anand Masih, who had refused to leave his 
mistress, even at her express command, and had succeeded 
before help came in removing a good deal of the weight that 
pressed upon her. 

“WeU, my dear, all's well that ends well,” said Mrs 
Hardy, hobbling up and dropping stiffly on a rug beside 
Georgia. “ Hurt ? Oh, nonsense ! ” in response to the 
anxious inquiries showered upon her ; “ bruised and knocked 
about a little, but that's all, and we ought to be very 
thankful that it's no worse. If those roofs hadn't been 
jerry-built, probably none of us would have escaped with our 
lives,' but the beams were not solid enough, as I have often 
said. And now the worst is over, so we had better make our- 
selves as comfortable as we can here for the rest of the night.” 

But this consoling view of things proved to be premature, 
for even as Mrs Hardy spoke, there came another long- 
drawn, moaning gust of wind, and the ground trembled 
slightly, then rocked. 

“ Couldn't we move to a safer place 1 ” asked Mabel, for 
whom the sight of the shaking buildings round the little 
courtyard had an awful fascination. They seemed to her 
to be actually leaning towards her. 

“There is no safer place inside the walls,” said Fitz 
quickly. 

“Will the wall over the canal stand this?” asked Mr 
Hardy, in a low voice, of Fitz, who shook his head and 
raised his eyebrows, just as a stentorian voice rang out from 
the nearest tower. 

“ Come down, you fools ! Don't you see that waU will 
go in a minute ? ” 

“ That's Woodworth calling down the Sikhs,” explained 
Fitz, with a smile that did him credit. “If a volcano 
opened at their very feet, they would ,stay where they were 
until they received orders to retire. How will it fall ? ” he 
muttered to Mr Hardy. 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 255 

“If it falls inwards, that will be the end of us,” was the 
calm reply of Mrs Hardy, who had caught the words. 

“Heaven is as near to Khemistan as to England,” said 
Ml Hardy, laying his hand gently on Georgia’s shoulder. 
She had started up wildly. 

“ I don’t mind for myseK ; it’s the boy ! ” she cried. “ Oh, 
won’t some one save him? What will Dick do when he 
comes back and finds no one left ? ” 

“I would take him, Mrs North, indeed I would, if I 
thought there was a better chance anywhere else,” said Fitz, 
to whom her agonised eyes appealed; “but it would be 
much worse in the passages, or under any roof. We are 
safer here than in most places.” 

“May God have mercy upon us all!” said Mr Hardy 
solemnly, as the ground began to rock so violently that they 
found it impossible to keep their feet. Half-kneeling, haK- 
crouching, they waited. There was a moment of awful 
expectation, then a crash louder than any that had come 
before. To Mabel’s eyes, the dark line of waU visible above 
the roofs was slowly but surely descending upon them, and 
horror seemed to freeze her blood. Without knowing it, 
she seized Fitz’s hand, and clung to it desperately. It was 
a support to have any companionship at that dreadful 
moment, but she did not trouble to ask herself why she 
should suddenly feel safe, almost happy. And stiU the 
mass of wall hung poised above them for a long, long time 
— at least, so it seemed, for no appreciable interval can in 
reality have elapsed ; but at the same moment that it struck 
Mabel that the line against the sky was becoming lower 
instead of higher, some one called out : “ It’s falling the 
other way!” There was a sound which could only be 
likened to the simultaneous discharge of a whole battery of 
81 -ton guns, a shock which threw them all down, and 
immediately the air was thick with dust and pieces of brick 
and stone. When it had cleared a little they rubbed their 
eyes. The line of wall was gone. 

Before any one could utter a word, down came the rain 
in torrents, and the baby relieved the strain of the situation 
by expressing his dissatisfaction at the very top of his voice. 
Every one else became conscious at once of a sense of guilt, 
and Ismail Bakhsh and Fitz, jumping up, set to work to 
contrive a shelter for his royal highness. Before very long, 


256 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


he and his mother were packed away underneath the bed, 
with all the rugs and umbrellas that could be found arranged 
over, under, or around them ; and when he had permitted 
himself to be comforted, the rest felt easier in their minds. 
Uncertain whether any further shocks were likely to occur, 
they durst not return to their rooms; but the matting 
which had been hung along the front of the verandah was 
supported on sticks to form a sort of tent, and under this 
they sat, wishing for the day. Fitz hurried away when he 
had helped to erect the tent, sa3dng that he might be needed 
elsewhere, and Mabel was left to wonder whether his arm 
had really been round her when the wall fell. He had 
sheltered her afterwards from the fl3dng fragments, that she 
knew, but her mind was not quite clear as to what had 
happened first. 

Fortunately for the dwellers in the inner court, they did 
not in the least realise the full extent of the damage caused 
by the earthquake, alarming though their own experiences 
had been. The whole south front of the fort now lay open 
to the enemy, for both lines of defence had disappeared 
simultaneously. Not only had the wall given way, tearing 
down with it half of the south-western tower, which had 
been partially undermined by the flood at the beginning of 
the siege, but in its fall it had completely choked the canal 
as far as the south-eastern angle. The other walls and 
towers, the bases of which were sound, had resisted the 
shocks with wonderful tenacity, but the temporary defences 
built up of stones and sand-bags, as also the shelters erected 
as a protection against a cross-fire, were absolutely wrecked. 
A portion of the materials used had fallen inside the fort, 
but the greater part was scattered about on the cleared 
space round. This was the situation at three o’clock in the 
morning. 

“ If only the enemy knew the state we are in ! ” said 
Colonel Graham, when the extent of the disaster had been 
roughly estimated. 

“ I rather hope their own troubles are giving them enough 
to do, sir,” said Beltring. “ I am certain I heard an explo- 
sion in their lines just before our wall fell, and there were 
screams enough for anything.” 

“ Let us hope they are too busy to attend to us, then. 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 257 

What is it, Euncorn? I see you have something to pro- 
pose.” 

“ May I suggest, sir, that we should set to work at once 
to clear out the canal, even before repairing the walls ? If 
the flow continues to be stopped, we shall soon have a 
marsh aU round us, and yet there will be no way of getting 
water but by digging.” 

The Colonel looked doubtful. “But surely it is im- 
possible to move all that mass of rubbish with the means 
we have ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; we can’t hope to restore the whole channel. 
But I think we could clear a passage just wide enough to 
keep the water running, and perhaps to check the enemy’s 
rush for a moment, and the current itself will soon make it 
wider.” 

“ It’s worth thinking of. But while the canal is being 
cleared out we must build a breastwork behind it, or there 
will be no cover against a fire from the opposite bank ; and 
we must restore our traverses and sangars on the other 
walls and the towers. Every man in the fort must set to 
work, for we can only count on two hours or so more of 
darkness. See that the men are mustered by word of 
mouth, Woodworth. We don’t want to force the fact of 
our wakefulness on the enemy.” 

In a very few minutes the fort and its surroundings pre- 
sented a scene of intense activity. In the cleared space 
men were collecting the stones and sand-bags dashed from 
the parapets, and sending them up again by means of ropes, 
while beyond them were several scouts, lying flat on the 
ground, and trying hard to pierce with their eyes the dark- 
ness and the pouring rain in the direction of the enemy. 
At the back of the fort Euncorn, with a number of volun- 
teers and a large fatigue party, was levering away huge 
masses of mud-brick, and digging through heaps of broken 
rubbish, while behind him Colonel Graham was superin- 
tending the construction of the work which was to replace 
the vanished rampart. There was no attempt to build 
anything at aU answering to the curtain which had been 
destroyed, for weeks of labour would be needed to clear the 
canal-bed of the rubbish that choked it up ; but such stones 
and bricks as could be found were piled together, and 
backed by heaps of earth, and then the work ceased perforce 

B 


258 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


for want of material. There was no time to burrow into 
the muddy chaos for suitable fragments, and the remaining 
masses of brickwork were too large to be moved with the 
means at hand. But the pause was only a short one. All 
the empty boxes in the fort were requisitioned, filled with 
earth, and built into the wall, but stdl more were needed. 
Officers rushed to their quarters, hurled their possessions on 
the floor, and reappeared with portmanteaus and uniform- 
cases. Fitz brought the tin boxes that had held the docu- 
ments of which he was guardian, and the refugees were 
forced to resign the gaily painted wooden chests some of 
them had succeeded in bringing in with them. Before very 
long the excitement penetrated to the Memsahibs’ court- 
yard, the inmates of which had now returned to their 
rooms. 

“ Georgie, let us give them our boxes ! ” cried Mabel. 

“ Yes, anything ! ” returned Georgia, sitting up with 
flushed cheeks. “Turn all the things out, Mab. Oh, I 
wish I could come and help ! ” 

“Give them that plate-box, Anand Masih,” said Mrs 
Hardy to the faithful bearer, who was sitting stolidly upon 
the piece of property in question, which was his own 
particular charge. He obeyed with a heart-rending sigh, 
t3dng up the silver carefully in a blanket before he sur- 
rendered the box. 

“ Georgie, they want more ! ” cried Mabel, flying back 
into the court. “ They are filling greatcoats with earth and 
tying them up by the sleeves. What can we give them ^ — 
pillow-cases ? — mattresses ? ” 

Skirts,” said Georgia, with the ardour of a sudden dis- 
covery. “ They would make beautiful sacks if they were 
sewn up at the hem.” 

“ Oh, my poor tailor-mades ! ” groaned Mabel ; “ but for 
my country’s sake — ” and she dashed into her own room, 
and reappeared with two or three tweed skirts and a supply 
of needles and thread. 

“ Oh, really. Miss North, I haven’t asked for this sacrifice,” 
said Colonel Graham, unable to restrain a smile when he 
found himself solemnly presented with the results of her 
handiwork. 

“ No, but it’s made now, and Flora will bring you some 
of hers in a minute. She hasn’t quite finished sewing them 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 259 

Up. Oh, do use them quickly, please, or I shall repent, and 
lose the credit of the self-denial after all.” 

“The shape is a little unusual,” said Colonel Graham, 
considering the skirts gravely, “ but we can certainly use 
the — the contribution for strengthening the breastwork. 
You ladies deserve well of your country, I am sure.” 

“The women of Carthage are quite outdone,” said Mr 
Burgrave, who was standing by ; but at the sound of his 
voice Mabel fled back into the court. Her own feelings 
during the past few days had taught her to understand 
something of the pain she had inflicted on him, and she 
could not face his eyes. 

“All the scattered material collected and brought in, 
sir,” reported Haycraft, who had been in command of the 
party at work on the cleared space, “ and I have recalled 
the scouts. It’s a queer thing, but the enemy have had a 
mounted man patrolling between their lines and ours the 
whole time. It was^ too dark to see him, but I heard him 
distinctly. He was riding round the fort, or rather round 
three sides of it, from one point on the canal to the 
other.” 

“ That encourages one to hope that they have suffered as 
much as we have,” said the Colonel. “ Very likely, if we 
only knew it, they are in deadly fear of an attack from us ; 
but I couldn’t venture to leave our rear exposed while we 
made a sortie.” 

“ The water runs, sir,” said Runcorn, coming up, “ and 
with a few poles and some canvas I could make a shelter 
for the water-carriers at a point where it’s fairly easy to get 
down to the edge.” 

“ Take them, by all means. What about the south-west 
tower ? ” 

“ I have tested it in every way I can, sir, and I think 
what’s left of it will stand aU right, but there’s no hope of 
patching it up at present.” 

“ I foresee that this breastwork will be the burden of our 
lives,” said Colonel Graham to the Commissioner, as Runcorn 
departed. “ We shall have to keep the guard there always 
under arms, and extra sentries in the tower ruins, for the 
enemy could take it with a rush at any moment, even if it 
didn’t topple down under their weight.” 

“ Yes, it strikes one that there is a certain lack of privacy 


260 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


about the new arrangement as compared with the old,” said 
Mr Burgrave. “It is like finding the public suddenly in 
possession of one’s back garden.” 

“ I should very much like to know what damage the 
enemy have sustained. Do you care to come with me to 
the gateway ? It ought soon to be light enough to see.” 

An exclamation broke from both men as the dawn re- 
vealed to them the outlines of the enemy’s position. Half- 
way across the cleared space extended a curious fissure, and 
when this was traced back, it lost itself in a heap of ruins 
to the right of General Keeling’s house. The house itself 
still stood, although the stone sangars on its roof were 
destroyed, but the loopholed buildings which had faced it 
were gone. 

“ The mine ! ” was the cry that leaped to the lips of both 
Colonel Graham and Mr Burgrave, and the former added, 
“ It must have exploded prematurely when Beltring heard 
the noise, but in the crash of our own wall the rest of us 
did not notice it.” 

“ This explains the enemy’s anxiety to keep us at a 
distance,” said the Commissioner. “ But why employ a 
mounted patrol, and only one man 1 ” 

“ It was simply to give an impression of watchfulness, I 
suppose. Can you suggest any other explanation, Kessal- 
dar ? ” and the Colonel turned to BaduUah Khan, who stood 
beside them. 

“ That was no enemy, sahib. It was Sinjaj Kilin Sahib 
Bahadar.” 

“ Nonsense ! ” cried Mr Burgrave. The native officer 
drew himseK up. 

“We who knew Kilin Sahib can judge better than the 
Kumpsioner Sahib what he would do. When we have 
heard him riding all night between us and the enemy, pre- 
venting them from attacking us, are we to doubt the 
witness of our own ears — nay, our eyes, since certain of the 
sowars swear that they beheld him 1 ” 

“ I beg your pardon, Eessaldar,” said the Commissioner, 
with marked politeness. “ I suppose it will now be an 
article of faith all along the frontier that General Keeling 
saved the fort last night 1 ” 

“ Without doubt, sahib. Is it not the truth ? ” 

“ I must say I wish my faith was as robust as the regi- 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 261 

merit’s ! ” said the Comissioner with a smile, as they turned 
to descend the steps. 

“ A white flag, sir ! ” reported Winlock, who was on 
guard at the gateway, when they reached the ground. 

“ Who is carrying it 1 ” 

“ A Hindu with two servants. The sowars say that it is 
Bahram Khan’s diwan, Narayan Singh.” 

“ Let him come within speaking distance — no farther.” 

“ Perhaps I ought to say, sir, if you are thinking that he 
wants to see what state we are in, that they have found 
that out already. A scout on a swift camel rode along the 
opposite bank of the canal a few minutes ago. He was 
near enough to see what we were doing, but he came and 
went like the wind, before the men could take up their 
carbines. Since he was gone so quickly, I did not call 
you.” 

“ I wish we could have caught him, but we can’t expect 
to keep them from discovering our plight. But certainly 
we won’t have them spying about under the walls. Let 
the Sikhs have their rifles ready, in case of treachery.” 

Before inviting Mr Burgrave to return with him to the 
turret. Colonel Graham went the round of the defences, to 
make sure that the sentries were all on the alert. He had 
in his mind more than one occasion on which the tribes had 
advanced to the attack under cover of a parley, and with 
the rear of the fort in its present condition he could not 
neglect any precautions. The heaps of rubbish on the 
opposite bank of the narrow channel which Euncorn had 
cleared for the water were a cause for constant anxiety, since 
a small force of resolute men posted behind them might 
render the new breastwork untenable, but nothing could be 
done to them at present. 

“I would give ten years of my life for a forty-eight 
hours’ armistice ! ” said the Colonel to Mr Burgrave, as they 
mounted the steps to the loophole of the turret, below 
which the Hindu was waiting, his two attendants having 
paused at a respectful distance. 

“ What message do you bring *? ” asked Colonel Graham, 
after the usual salutations had been exchanged. 

“ This unworthy one brings to your lordship the wotds of 
Syad Bahram Khan, Sword-of-the-Faith : ‘ Who can stand 
against the will of Allah This night His hand has been 


262 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


heavy upon my army, even as upon that of the sahibs, and 
many men are killed, and many also buried while yet alive 
under the ruins of their quarters. Let there then be peace 
between us for three days. We will continue to hold our 
lines from the bridge to the godowns, but we will not cross 
the canal, nor come out upon the open space ; and I would 
have the sahibs swear also that they will keep to their fort 
and the other bank of the canal, and not cross it on either 
side to attack us. Then shall the dead be buried and the 
injured cared for, and both sides may also repair their 
damaged defences, but it is forbidden to raise any new ones. 
What is the answer of the Colonel Sahib ? ’ ” 

“ Can’t be much doubt, can there ? ” said Colonel Graham 
to the Commissioner. 

“ I suppose not. But how coolly they talk of wasting 
three days ! It seems as if they thought they had a lifetime 
before them to spend on this siege.” 

“Well, so much the better for us — on this occasion, at 
any rate. When is the armistice to begin?” he asked of 
Narayan Singh ; “ now, or to-morrow morning ? ” 

“ At daybreak to-morrow, sahib,” was the answer, after a 
moment’s consideration. 

“So be it,” said Colonel Graham. “Then they have 
something on hand!” he added to Mr Burgrave. “If 
Bahram Khan were all anxiety for his wounded, as he 
would like us to think, of course he would want the armis- 
tice to begin at once. But he knows we shan’t fire at his 
men if they begin digging out the poor wretches now, and 
he would like three clear days for some plot of his own. 
What can it be ? ” 

“Perhaps he merely hopes to catch us off our guard 
to-day,” suggested the Commissioner. 

“ But if that’s his game, no scruples of conscience would 
have kept him from making use of the armistice for the 
purpose. No, he’s up to something, and I should very 
much like to know what it is. I shall post a lookout at 
the top of the north-west tower with the best field-glass we 
have, to keep an eye on all that goes on in their camp.” 

The Colonel’s prevision was justified early the next 
morning, when the lookout announced that a small body of 
fully armed men, all mounted, among whom he believed he 
could distinguish Bahram Khan himself, had left the town 


THE FORCES OF NATURE. 263 

and were proceeding towards the north-east, apparently in 
the direction of Nalapur. 

“I am very much afraid that bodes ill to poor old 
Ashraf Ali,” said the Colonel. “I only wish we could 
warn him.” 

“ After all, sir,” said Haycraft, to whom he had spoken, 
“ Bahram Khan may only be off to see how the blockade of 
Eahmat-Ullah is going on. It’s evident he thinks we’re 
stuck pretty fast here, for really, if we had the proper 
number of horses, and anywhere to go to, we might take 
advantage of the armistice to disappear, they have left so 
few men in their lines.” 

“I prefer the shelter of even our tumble-down walls to 
being surrounded in the desert,” said the Colonel shortly. 
** And now to work ! ” 


CHAPTER XXL 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 

There was some grumbling when it became known that 
only half the garrison was to go to work on the defences at 
a time, the other half remaining under arms, but Colonel 
Graham knew the enemy too well to omit any precaution. 
He thought it most unlikely that the armistice would be 
allowed to expire without an attempt to surprise the 
defenders of the fort, and it was highly probable that 
Bahram Khan’s departure was intended purely as a blind. 
Hence the sentries were posted as usual upon walls and 
towers, and scouts were thrown out in both directions along 
the line of the canal, so that the working-parties might 
safely give their full attention to the matter in hand. As 
usual, the first work to be done was the digging of several 
graves, for the earthquake had found victims both in the 
refugees’ quarters and in the hospital, where two of the 
wounded had died of sheer terror, but when the funerals 
were over, the rubbish-heaps were attacked with a will. 
Stones and pieces of brickwork of manageable size were put 
aside to strengthen the makeshift rampart on the inner 
bank, while the dust and loose earth was carried some 
little distance, and spread evenly over the ground, so as to 
offer no cover whatever. When this had been done, Run- 
corn pressed forward the all-important work of the further 
clearing of the canal, a dirty and laborious job which it 
would require months to accomplish properly. As things 
were, the whole of the time at the disposal of the garrison 
produced very little apparent effect, and it needed unfailing 
tact and the constant force of example to keep the weary 
labourers at work. Colonel Graham took his turn with the 
rest, so that the younger men could not for very shame 
rebel against the task, while Mr Burgrave, for whom active 

264 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 


265 

labour was out of the question, stimulated the ardour of the 
native workmen by offering rewards for the best record of 
work done. 

To the inmates of the Memsahibs’ courtyard, the armis- 
tice brought little change. They were allowed to cross the 
canal, and walk about a little on the opposite bank, but 
they were forbidden to venture upon the irrigated land by 
themselves, and no one was at liberty to escort them even 
as far as the outlying pickets. Mabel and Flora carried 
the baby across, that it might breathe the air outside prison 
walls for the first time in its life, as Mabel said, and they 
sat upon a heap of crumbling rubbish amidst clouds of dust 
and watched the men at work, until it dawned upon them 
that their room was more desired than their company, where- 
upon they returned to the fort, and found a seat upon the 
ramparts. On ordinary occasions this was forbidden ground, 
but the armistice had been faithfully observed so far, and in 
spite of his misgivings Colonel Graham gave them leave to 
enjoy the air and sky while they might. 

“ Oh dear ! I feel like the naughty little boy in the 
spelling-book,” sighed Mabel. “ Everybody is too busy to 
talk to me. Isn’t it dull. Flora? I do wish something 
would happen.” 

“ Why, what a martial spirit you are developing ! ” said 
Flora. “ Do you yearn for an attack at this moment ? ” 

“ Oh, nonsense ! I don’t mean that sort of thing. I mean 
something interesting.” 

Her eyes strayed involuntarily to the spot where Fitz was 
at work down below, and the thought crossed her mind that 
she would make him look up at her. 

“ But I won’t,” she decided. “ He would know I was 
thinking of him, and he doesn’t deserve it.” She had only 
spoken to him once since the earthquake, and then it 
seemed to her that his manner was almost apologetic, as if 
he knew he had offended her, but was anxious to show that 
she need not fear a repetition of the offence. “ So I suppose 
he did put his arm round me,” she refiected, “but if I 
wasn’t angry, why should he behave as though I had been ? 
If he does care for me still, why should he be so anxious to 
pretend he doesn’t ? Flora ! ” she turned suddenly upon her 
friend, who was engrossed in trying to read some meaning 
into the baby’s inarticulate gurglings, “ have you said 


266 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


anything to Mr Anstruther about our talk the other day? 
about wholesome neglect, I mean ? ” 

“ I ? ” asked Flora, looking up quickly, “ to him, about 
you ? Mab ! as if I would ever give away another girl to 
any man in the world ! Of course not. You ought to know 
me better than that.” 

“ I didn’t really think you had,” said Mabel lamely. “ It 
was only — ” she stopped, for the thought in her mind was 
that she wished there had been some such explanation of 
Fitz’s silence, since in that case she could at least have felt 
sure that he had not changed his mind. 

It was the evening of the third day of the armistice, and 
as the sun began to set, the tired labourers in what was 
pleasantly called the “ back garden ” were able to look with 
pride upon the result of their toil. It is true that all were 
not satisfied with it, for the inexorable Kuncorn, finding 
the work he had mapped out actually accomplished, was 
anxious to make further improvements. Since, however, 
the erection of sangars on the roof of Mabel’s room and of 
the hospital had rendered it possible to bring a converging 
fire to bear on all parts of the temporary breastwork, the 
Colonel considered any more tampering with the canal- 
banks unadvisable, and work was declared to be at an end. 
The sowars and other natives had already been marched 
back into the fort, but the white men lingered for a few 
minutes’ idleness in the fresh air. Kuncorn was stiU urging 
his point on the rest, who were lounging in various atti- 
tudes of ease on the bank, when a shot was fired overhead. 

“ What’s up ? ” shouted Woodworth. 

“There’s a fellow on Gun Hill,” answered Winlock’s 
voice from the ruined tower. “ He seemed to be display- 
ing a good deal of interest in our arrangements, so I sent 
a gentle reminder pretty near him.” 

“ Don’t you go breaking armistices, or we shall get into 
trouble,” Fitz called out, and the subject dropped, but pre- 
sently a hail from the farthest scout in the direction of the 
bridge brought every man to his feet. 

“He’s stopped some one — only one man — perhaps it’s 
a messenger ! ” cried Beltring. “ Take your guns, you 
idiots ! it may be a trap,” as the rest started off at a run. 
“Bring him with you, and retire on the next man,” he 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 267 

shouted to the Sikh, who obeyed, keeping his bayonet 
pointed at the stranger’s breast. 

“What is if?” inquired the white men breathlessly, as 
they ran up, to find the two stolid Sikhs guarding a feeble 
figure in native dress. 

“ Don’t fire,” said the new-comer in English. “ Don’t fire !” 

“No, no, they won’t,” said Woodworth impatiently. 
“Who are youf” 

“ Don’t f — ” began the stranger again, then looked round 
helplessly. “I can’t — I can’t — ” he faltered, then threw 
off his turban with a hasty movement of the hand. “ Don’t 
you — any of you ^ ” he murmured. 

“Are you English'?” demanded Woodworth, with con- 
siderable misgiving, as he took ‘in the details of the man’s 
appearance — the unkempt hair, the scanty grey beard, the 
lack-lustre eyes, and the bony face, with the lips trembling 
pitifully. 

“Not one of you?” went on the stranger, recovering 
himself a little. “ Anstruther ! ” 

“ I do ! I do ! ” cried Fitz, with a mighty shout. “ You 
fellows, are you blind ? It’s the Major ! ” 

“ The Major ? Impossible ! ” was the cry, as Fitz wrung 
the new-comer’s hand with painful warmth. The idea 
seemed absurd, but gradually conviction grew upon the 
rest, and they stood round in awkward silence. Dick’s 
eyes sought their faces one by one. 

“ What is it ? ” he asked, turning anxiously back to Fitz. 
“ Will no one teU me ? Is — is — how is ? ” 

“As well as possible,” cried Fitz joyously. “Never 
given you up for an hour. Major. And the haha is a boy, 
the pride of the whole place.” 

“ Thank God ! ” said Dick fervently, and at the words 
the last remnants of the distrust with which the rest had 
regarded him melted away. 

“ Forgive us. Major. We’ve thought of you so long as 
dead that we couldn’t believe our eyes,” said Woodworth. 
“ Have you been a prisoner all this time, after all ? ” 

“ North, my dear fellow ! ” Colonel Graham broke into 
the group and seized Dick’s hand. “ Thank God you’re 
alive ! This will be new life to Mrs North. But look 
here, we mustn’t let her see you like this. The fright 
would undo any good she might get.” 


268 


THE WARDEN OP THE MARCHES. 


I suppose I am rather a scarecrow,” said Dick slowly. 
He spoke with a curious hesitation, as though the words 
he wished to use would not come to his lips. “ But I have 
been at death’s door until very lately, and now I have had 
no food for three days.” 

“Woodworth,” said Colonel Graham, “post a sentry 
before the door of the ladies’ courtyard, and don’t let any 
one go in to carry the news. Happily they are none of 
them on the walls this evening. Now, North, for your 
wife’s sake, to save her an awful shock, you’ll come to my 
quarters and have a bath and a shave and something to 
eat, and get into some of my clothes. You’ll be a different 
man then. Can you walk ? ” 

“ I have walked a good deal yesterday and to-day, but I 
can do a little more,” said Dick, accepting gratefully the 
arm which was offered him. 

“ Close round, and let us smuggle him in,” said Colonel 
Graham to the rest. “We don’t want the men to hear the 
news before Mrs North. Let them think it’s a messenger 
who has got through in disguise.” 

The other men waited outside the Colonel’s quarters 
until, after the lapse of a miraculously short space of time, 
Dick came out again. They raised a subdued cheer when 
they saw him, for once more in uniform, he looked his old 
self. The feebleness was gone from his gait, and he held 
himself erect again. His hair and mousteche, though 
greyer than before, had resumed their usual aspect, ar.d 
the straggling beard was gone, so that but for the excess^’o 
thinness, which made the clothes hang loosely about him, 
he seemed little changed. The rest pressed forward to 
shake hands with him. 

“ We were a set of fools not to know you. Major,” said 
Beltring, “ but at the moment I hadn’t a doubt you were a 
spy.” 

“ Well,” said Dick, as the others laughed shamefacedly, 
“that didn’t matter; but when you all stood and lookc'd 
at me without speaking, I made certain something fright- 
ful had happened See you all afterwards; I can’t wait 
now.” 

He passed on into the inner courtyard, where Mabel and 
Flora were sitting talking in the verandah. Both sprang 
up as his shadow came between them and the sunset. 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 


269 


“ Dick ! ” shrieked Mabel. “ Then Georgie was right 
after all ! But don’t stay here.” She was dragging him 
in the direction of Georgia’s room. “I daren’t keep you 
from her a moment.” 

Forgetful of everything but the unconquerable faith 
which was justified at last, she would not detain him even 
to greet him herself, but he drew back on the threshold. 

“ Oughtn’t you to break it to her ? The shock might be 
too great.” 

“ The shock ? She’s expecting you, has been for weeks ! ” 
cried Mabel hysterically. “ Oh, Dick, I could die of joy ! ” 

“ Mab,” came in Georgia’s tones through the half-closed 
door, “I hear Dick’s voice. Bring him in — bring him 
in.” 

“ Oh, go on. She mustn’t get up ; it’U hurt her,” cried 
Mabel, pushing the door open. 

“ Georgie, if you get up,” cried Dick, charging into the 
room, “ I’ll — Oh, Georgie, Georgie ! ” He fell on his knees 
by the bed, and there was a long silence, interrupted only 
by broken words and sobs. As for Mabel, she banged the 
door, and rushed away to cry somewhere in private. . 

“ My poor dear boy ! ” said Georgia at last, her voice 
still trembling, as she passed her hand over Dick’s forehead, 
“ you have wanted me very much, haven’t you ? ” 

“Your boy is a very old boy, I’m afraid — quite grey- 
haired now, Georgie. Wanted you? of course I have — 
words can’t express how much.” 

“I know. And you called to me one whole day and 
night, didn’t you ? ” 

“ I^y, yes, I suppose so. But how did you know ? ” 

“I heard you. I tried to get to you, Dick, but they 
wouldn’t let me.” 

“It’s a mercy they didn’t. Oh, Georgie, you blessed 
woman, what it is to see you again ! ” 

“And — ?” cried Georgia. “Oh, you’ve forgotten — I’ve 
forgotten ! Look here, Dick. You have never even thought 
of him. Take him up, and hold him in your arms.” 

“ Don’t you think it’s happier as it is ? ” inquired Dick, 
poking the baby gingerly with a tentative finger. 

“ / It’s your son, Dick. Take him up at once. I 

want to see you together. Now, isn’t he splendid ? ” 

“ Little beggar’s not a scrap like you,” grumbled Dick, 


270 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ No,” said Georgia, with entire satisfaction ; “ every one 
says he’s the image of you.” 

“ Oh no ; not really ? ” protested Dick in dismay. 

“Why not? He’s a beautiful baby. Look what lovely 
eyes he has. And see how good he is ; mem aeqwi in 
arduis ought to be his motto, I always say.” 

“ Oh, very well ; if he feels it a hardship for me to hold 
him, I quite agree,” and the baby was returned with 
elaborate gentleness to the basket which served as a 
cradle. 

“ Dick, aren’t you pleased ? Don’t you really like him ? ” 
Georgia’s eyes were full of tears. 

“ Like him ? My dear girl, in a day or two I shall be 
prouder of him than you are. But you see, it’s you I’ve 
been thinking of all this time, and I can’t think of any- 
thing else yet. I want to sit by you and look at you and 
hold your hand for hours and hours, and think of nothing 
but that I’ve got you again.” 

“I won’t accept compliments at my baby’s expense,” 
laughed Georgia through her tears. 

“ Ah, he’s quite taken my place, I see. Now, old girl, 
I’m only joking. There ! ” Dick lifted the baby again, and 
laid it carefully in Georgia’s arms ; “ you hold him, and let 
me look at you both.” 

Mabel, in the meantime, was sobbing in a corner of the 
verandah. Her tears were purely tears of joy, but her 
attitude, as she sat crouched on the floor (for the boxes 
which had once served as seats were now a portion of the 
breastwork), was desolate enough to melt the heart of any 
sympathetic spectator. So, at least, it seemed to Fitz, who 
came hurrying through the passage, and pulled up, in 
astonishment and alarm, just in time to avoid stumbling 
over her. 

“ What is it. Miss North ? Anything wrong ? ” he asked 
anxiously. 

“Oh no; it’s only — that I’m so — happy,” said Mabel, 
between her sobs. “ I came here to be out of the way,” 
she added, rising with all the dignity she could muster, and 
shaking the dust from her skirts, “ but it seems impossible 
to find a place where one can be by oneself.” 

“ Oh, I beg your pardon. Please don’t let me interrupt 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 


271 


you. I only came to ask when the Major would like to see 
the men. They are wild to welcome him back. If you 
will just ask him, I’ll go away directly.” 

“I won’t disturb him and Georgia now,” said Mabel. 
“If the men come in an hour’s time, I’ll tell him before 
that, and he will be ready to see them.” 

“ Oh, thanks.” He turned to go, then hesitated a moment, 
and came back. “I want just to say one thing. Miss 
North — about that promise you gave me.” 

“Oh, don’t!” cried Mabel hysterically. “You haven’t 
treated me fairly about it. It’s cruel to keep such a thing 
hanging over me, so that I am in terror whenever I see 
you.” 

“Why, what a low brute you must have thought me! 
But really I didn’t mean to be such an out-and-out cad as 
all that. I thought you knew me better — and I did try to 
show you what I meant. You couldn’t imagine that I 
would hold you to a promise which I practically forced you 
to make ? ” 

“ Oh ! ” said Mabel. An unprejudiced listener would 
have said that she had not only expected but desired to 
be held to her promise. But Fitz was not unprejudiced, 
and he went on earnestly. 

“ This is how it was. I told you I should go on hoping, 
you know (and I do still, for the matter of that). And 
I had a sort of idea that you might be changing your mind 
just a little — of course it was awful cheek on my part — 
and I thought I’d put it to the test. So I asked you 
for that promise, just to see how you’d take it. But when 
I saw how you felt about it, I never thought of going any 
further. Didn’t you understand, really 1 I thought I must 
have made it clear that I was quite content to be your friend 
until you could give me more — of your own free wiU. Oh, 
you must have seen.” 

Mabel’s heart felt like lead, but she made a gaUant effort 
to appear indifferent. “ Of course I saw that you avoided 
me ” she began. 

“Oh no — ^it has been you who avoided me,” protested 
Fitz. 

“Oh, well, it’s very much the same,” wearily. “And 
I am sorry to say I misjudged you. I thought you were 
trying to make me feel that you had a hold over me. I must 


272 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


apologise for that. Then you give me back my promise ? ” 
she added suddenly. 

“ Not at all. I am keeping it for another time.” 

“ But that’s a trick. You are just as bad as I 
thought.” 

“ You must really imagine that I have a perfect mania 
for being refused. I have told you that I believe you’ll 
have me yet, and that I shall go on hoping until you do. 
Don’t you see that I’m keeping your promise in store solely 
out of consideration for you — to save you from the very 
unpleasant necessity of letting me know when you do make 
up your mind 1 ” 

“I believe — you are laughing at me!” said Mabel, in 
wounded and incredulous amazement. 

“Laughing — 1 % Not a bit of it. Look at me and 
see. I am serious, if you are not. Well, you see, I 
have only got back the freedom of which I deprived 
myself at first. Say it was by a trick, if you like — 
though I didn’t intend it so — ^but I don’t think you need 
be afraid of the way I shall use it. I shan’t waste the 
promise, I assure you. Until the right time comes, I am 
nothing but your friend, and the promise is exactly as if it 
didn’t exist.” 

“ But,” protested Mabel, “ you seem to expect me 
to— to ” 

“Haven’t I just said that I want to save you from 
anything of the kind? You see, it’s not as if I had any 
number of opportunities to waste. I have only the one, 
and I don’t mean to use it until I can lay it out to 
good advantage.” 

“Well,” said Mabel desperately, “I think you are most 
ungenerous. You want me to feel myself entirely de- 
pendent upon your forbearance — and you call yourself a 
gentleman 1 ” 

“Miss North, do you wish me to give you back your 
promise ? ” 

“ Yes, of course. Why not ? ” 

“ Because, if I do, you will naturally feel bound in honour 
to give me a hint when your feelings change. You couldn’t 
intend us both to go on in misery because my mouth was 
shut and you wouldn’t speak ? ” 

“You seem to put me in the wrong at every turn,” 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 273 

sobbed Mabel. “Oh, I wish you would go away!” and 
he went. 

Now, at least, Mabel ought to have been happy. But 
she was not. After assuring herself several times over 
that she hated Fitz, she proceeded to give the lie promptly 
to her assurances, while looking the situation in the face. 

“ He will make it depend on me,” she lamented to 
herself, “and it’s simple cowardice on his part, because 
he thinks I should refuse him again. Well, I know I said 
I should, but I meant to give him a little hope. As it 
is, I don’t like him to be so masterful, and I won’t give in. 
He has managed to get a horrible hold over me, but I will 
not let him see it. I won’t give in. Oh dear, why can’t 
he ask me properly? why can’t something happen to put 
things right? If he knew how I cared for him, I wonder 
whether he would say anything? But I am glad he 
doesn’t guess; yes, I — am — glad. If I let him see it, 
he would think he could ride roughshod over me ever 
after. No, he wouldn’t, he’s too generous, but I should 
hate his being generous at my expense. I suppose I don’t 
care for him enough, or I should be glad to give in. So 
it’s better as it is.” 

She dried her eyes with great determination, whereupon 
another thought came immediately to fill them again with 
tears. 

“ What shall I do to-morrow morning ? Each day I have 
thought, ‘ Perhaps he will speak to-day ! ’ and now I know 
he won’t, unless I let him see in some way — but I won’t ! 
I won’t ! I won’t ! What an idiot I am 1 I feel like the 
foolish woman who plucks down her house with her own 
hands. Oh, why has Georgie got everything and I nothing ? 
But I have, of course. I have got Dick back again just 
as much as she has, and I suppose I don’t deserve any- 
thing more. But I don’t know why this particularly 
horrible thing should happen to me. It’s not as if I had 
ever led any one on — except poor Eustace. I did really 
flirt with him at first, so I suppose this is my punishment. 
If he knew he would say it was only just. But the rest — 
why. Captain Winlock or Mr Beltring or Captain Woodworth 
would propose to-morrow if I held up my little finger. I 
could have any of them I liked— except the right one. 
It would serve him right if I flirted with one of them 


274 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


now, and made him jealous — ” she grew suddenly cheerful, 
for the idea pleased her. “ I should like to make him 
miserable a little, after the way he has treated me, and 
I could do it so splendidly. But I suppose he was rather 
miserable when I was engaged to Eustace, and it would 
be distinctly hard on the other man. I never thought 
I was such a wretch,” with a repentant sigh, “ but it was 
a temptation for the moment. And to think that I should 
be going on in this way when I ought to remember nothing 
but that Dick’s alive ! I’m a perfect beast, and I will 
be glad. I’ll try and think only of Georgie, and perhaps 
I shan’t feel quite so miserable then. Oh dear, I wish 
there was some way of letting people know you were sorry 
without giving in ! ” 

No such paradox offered itself, however, and suddenly 
remembering her duty, Mabel went to give Dick the 
message Fitz had brought from the men. A short time 
afterwards they filed into the courtyard, first the half who 
were off duty, and then those from the walls, who came as 
soon as they were relieved. On all of them Dick impressed 
his absolute command that the enemy should not be in any 
way informed of his return. The men were disappointed, 
for they had looked forward to publishing the tidings in 
one of those contests of scurrility in which they engaged at 
every opportunity, sometimes with the invisible defenders 
of General Keeling’s house, and sometimes with the rash 
spirits who crept up under the ramparts at night, risking 
their lives for the sole delight of taunting the garrison. 
But Dick’s word was law, and the Bessaldars assured him 
that nothing should leak out to give the enemy an inkling 
of what had happened. When they had retired, and the 
guards had been set for the night, a festal gathering took 
place in the inner courtyard. Georgia was carried into 
the verandah, and Mr and Mrs Hardy and Mabel and Flora 
brought out aU the seats they could muster, and placed 
them round her couch; Colonel Graham, the doctor, and 
Fitz came in, and Dick related his adventures. 

“ There really is awfully little to tell,” he said, “ because, 
you see, I was knocked silly at once, and I can only re- 
member one moment in a whole long time. I suppose it 
was the evening of the fight in the Pass. I was being 
carried along by a lot of native women — at least, that 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED, 


275 

is how I interpret the thing now, but at the moment I 
couldn’t tell what to make of it. It might have been rather 
weird if I had had time to think of that, but no sooner had 
I opened my eyes than the woman who was holding my 
feet saw that I was looking at her. She screamed and let 
me drop — that she might put on her veil, I suppose — but 
that finished me for the moment. I don’t remember any- 
thing more until I found myself in a cave, with an old 
fakir sitting a little way off, absorbed in meditation. I 
was too weak to talk, and I seem to have had visions of 
the cave and the old man, off and on, for hundreds of years. 
At last, when I had been sensible rather longer than usual, 
I managed to get out sufficient voice to ask him where I 
was. He told me I was in his cave, which was not much 
information, but I couldn’t think of anything else to ask 
him at the time. The next day I asked him how I had 
got there, and he said the Hasrat Ali Begum had sent and 
asked him to take care of me, and I had been let down 
into the cave by ropes from above. He evidently believed 
in letting his patients severely alone, for he pursued his 
meditations assiduously except when I worried him with 
my impertinent questions. I couldn’t think how I came 
to be there, and I hammered at him until he let out the 
truth. I daresay he was wiser not to tell me before, for 
as soon as the whole thing flashed upon me, I was mad to 
get away. You see, the old chap was so very holy that he 
had no disciples and never went out into the world, and 
even his food was brought to an appointed place by his 
admirers, and left there for him to fetch. He knew about 
the fight in the Pass, but he couldn’t say whether any of 
the escort had escaped, or whether this place had been 
taken by surprise and everybody wiped out. You may 
imagine the state I was in, and the threats and prayers 
and promises I lavished upon the old man, until he was at 
Ms wits’ end to know what to do with me. He preached 
me a long sermon one day upon patience and resignation, 
pointing out, first, that I must not think he bore me ill- 
will — quite the contrary, since I had saved him from being 
hung for murder in a very hard-sworn case when I first 
came here ; second, that if he departed from his usual 
custom so far as to go out and ask the news, suspicion 
would immediately be excited, and I should be done for ; 


276 THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 

third, that it was not he that was keeping me there, but the 
wounds I had got, which prevented me from moving.” 

“ I should think so ! ” cried Dr Tighe, unable to keep 
silence longer. “Ladies and gentlemen, the patient be- 
fore you was as good as dead, ought by rights to be dead 
now, yet there he sits and talks. Will you think of it, 
Mrs North? This husband of yours has had a bullet 
actually through his heart. He’s a living miracle. The 
difference of the minutest fraction of an inch of space, the 
minutest fraction of a second of time, would have meant 
that you would be a widow at this moment. How it is 
you are not, I cannot explain— I tell you frankly. Though 
it may seem to the vulgar mind to reflect upon our common 
profession, I imagine that being let absolutely alone may 
have had something to do with it, but I can’t tell. Be 
thankful that you’ve got him back, and take good care of 
him in future.” 

“ I will ; I will, indeed,” said Georgia fervently, squeezing 
Dick’s hand. 

“ I regard you with an evil eye. Major, I don’t deny it,” 
went on the doctor. “ You’re a living falsification of every 
canon of surgery. You had no business to survive that 
wound, much less to live through the absence of treatment 
you met with. It’s a slap in Mrs North’s face, I call it, to 
say nothing of mine. But let us hear some more of your 
reprehensible proceedings.” 

“ WeU,” said Dick, “ I remember that sermon very well, 
because I was panting the whole time to get away. I 
thought that some day, when old Faiz-Ullah was saying 
his prayers, I might crawl past him, and slip out. I did 
manage to crawl to the entrance, though I thought I should 
have died in doing it, but when I got there I found only a 
precipice in front. At the side was a rope-ladder by which 
my elderly friend was accustomed to get to the spot where 
his food was left, but of course I could as soon have flown 
as climbed it. I simply lay there like a log, until the old 
fellow happened to miss me, and came to look. I must 
have got a touch of fever or sunstroke, for I had awful 
nightmares after that — oh, horrors and tortures beyond con- 
ception ! Faiz-Ullah must have been frightened, for at last 
he made me understand that he had seen the Begum’s 
servant, and she was going to try and bring my wife to 


THE DEAD THAT LIVED. 


277 


cure me. That set me off on a new tack. The horrors 
went on just the same, but Georgia was always there, on 
the other side of a gulf, and I couldn’t get at her. &he 
knows how much I wanted her” — he stole a glance at 
Georgia, down whose face the tears were streaming — “ but 
I don’t think any one else can ever guess how bad it was. 
Well, she didn’t come, as you know, but the old woman 
who had tried to fetch her sent me a message, which I 
suppose she took the trouble to invent, just to satisfy me. 
If I insisted upon it, Georgia would come, she said, but to 
reach me she must run the gantlet of so many dangers 
that it was scarcely possible she could get through. Was 
she to come 1 I’m thankful to remember that I had strength 
of mind enough to say she wasn’t to think of it. Of course 
she couldn’t get the message, but a man doesn’t like to 
feel ” 

“ Oh, Dick, as if I should have thought of the danger ! ” 
murmured Georgia. 

“We know you didn’t, Mrs North,” said Colonel Graham, 
“and that’s why I agree with North that it’s a good thing 
he left off calling you.” 

“ I don’t know why,” said Dick, “ but after that I was 
happier, somehow. I used to have the idea that Georgia 
was there, and we held long conversations ” — Georgia’s eyes 
met Mabel’s significantly — “and so I grew better. Of 
course I was wild to get away, but there was always that 
rope-ladder, and the very thought of it turned me sick. 
Old Faiz-Ullah promised faithfully that in a few days he 
would help me up it, and escort me through the mountains 
to this place, so that I might get in if I could, and three 
nights ago he went to meet the Begum’s servant when she 
brought the food, intending to ask if they could find me a 
pony. But that night there was the worst earthquake I 
have ever felt” — the rest exchanged glances — “and he 
never came back. The noise was fearful, and as shock after 
shock came, I never for a moment expected to live through it. 
But the cave was not damaged, and when I crawled out in the 
morning, the rope-ladder was still there. I waited for the 
old man, but he did not come, and there was no food left. 
At last I decided that something must have happened to 
him, and I determined to make the attempt sooner than 
starve to death. I don’t know how long I hung between 


278 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


heaven and earth on that awful ladder, but I got to the top 
at last, and followed Faiz-Ullah’s track. Before very long I 
found him, poor old fellow! crushed under a fallen rock, 
quite dead. I hunted about for some stones that I could 
lift to put over him, to keep off the leopards, and then I 
started. If any food had been brought the night before, it 
was buried under the rock with him, so I had no time to 
lose. I knew roughly where I was, and I set my course as 
best I could by the sun. I went from hiding-place to 
hiding-place, sometimes crawling, and sometimes able to 
walk. I dared not rest long anywhere, for I knew I should 
starve even if the enemy didn’t find me. I got across the 
Akrab Pass almost by a miracle. Bahram Kkan was hold- 
ing a jirgah with the tribesmen, and they had no scouts out 
except in the direction of Nalapur. After taking a good 
look at them, I crept round below and got through. And 
after that I went on somehow, I don’t remember how, and 
at last I worked round by our house, and into the hills 
where the canal comes from, and got across on a landslip, 
where the water was shallow, and here I am.” 

“ When you ought to be in bed,” said Dr Tighe. “ You 
don’t deserve it, after your outrageous behaviour in defying 
the profession, but I’d like to overhaul you, and see if 
nature hasn’t left any little crevices that art may manage to 
patch up.” 

“Art must go to work quickly, then,” said Dick. “I 
want to get hold of the tribes before Bahram Khan comes 
back.” 

“That will be to-morrow morning, when the armistice 
ends,” said Colonel Graham. “ No, we have got you again 
now. North, and you won’t start out on any fools’ errands 
just yet, let me teU you.” 


CHAPTER XXn. 


THE PIEB ON THE HILL. 

“ Ah 1 ” said Colonel Graham sharply. “ So that is the 
little dodge, is it ? ” 

He and Dick were standing in one of the gateway turrets 
as the day broke, and it was the sight of a long column of 
men marching into the town from the north-east that had 
called forth the exclamation. 

“Look behind you!” said Dick laconically. A second 
force was moving along the south bank of the canal in the 
direction of the fort. 

“ Nice use to make of an armistice ! ” said the Colonel. 

“ Well, you didn’t expect anything else, did you 1 You 
see they have got us between two fires? That means a 
simultaneous attack on the gateway and the breastwork, at 
any rate, if not on all four sides at once. We have no time 
to lose.” 

“Have you any suggestions to offer?” The Colonel 
spoke with the calmness of despair, and Dick glanced at 
him in surprise. 

“ Of course you know our possibilities better than I do, 
but I should certainly occupy Gun Hill, so as both to cover 
our west face, and enable us to deliver a flank attack on the 
fellows on the opposite bank if they come any nearer.” 

“We have no guns, unfortunately, as you know, and 
worse than that, we have not men enough to send out a 
detachment to the hill and hold the place at the same time. 
Look there I ” he handed Dick his field-glass. “ The build- 
ings facing us are packed with men ready to advance in 
response to any movement on our part.” 

“ I see. But at any rate we can line the earthwork and 
the roofs and our bank of the canal with sharpshooters, and 
keep the enemy at a distance on the south face ? ” 

“ No doubt we could, but for one thing. Do you recol- 
279 


280 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


lect that we have now been besieged over a month ? What 
is the natural corollary ? ” 

“ That the ammunition is running out ? ” 

“ Exactly. There is so little left for the rifles that I have 
forbidden it to be used except for picking off any specially 
troublesome snipers. We are slightly better off as regards 
the carbines, but a single day of hard fighting would leave 
us with nothing but cold steel.” 

“ Good heavens ! ” said Dick, beginning to pace back- 
wards and forwards in the narrow limits of the turret; 
“and with the men they are bringing up now they can 
overwhelm us by sheer weight of numbers. You see it’s 
the Nalapur army that is marching in ? No doubt Bahram 
Khan was on his way to fetch it when I saw him in the 
Pass. Now, either the Amir has been got rid of, or he has 
decided to throw in his lot with his precious nephew. If 
he’s dead, it’s all up, but if not, there’s just a chance. You 
said he seemed to turn reckless when he thought he had 
done for me; well, I may be able to sober him down 
again.” 

“ You are not thinking of venturing into their camp 1 ” 
“Scarcely, since Bahram Khan would very soon repair 
his unfortunate omission if I did. But if he doesn’t 
propose a parley, you must, and insist on the Amir’s 
taking part in it. Then I will show myself suddenly, and 
see whether there’s any hope of working upon the old man’s 
feelings.” 

All morning the garrison watched in gloomy helplessness 
the assembling of the force which was to crush them. 
When Bahram Khan’s reinforcements had taken up their 
positions, the fort was practically surrounded. On the 
north-west, and extending under cover of the trees to the 
reconstructed bridge, were the tents of the tribes, now once 
more fully occupied, and humming like a hive of bees. 
Clearly, the news had gone out that victory was at hand. 
On the north and east was the town, now held by a strong 
contingent of Nalapuris, in addition to Bahram Khan’s 
original force, and on the south the main body of the 
Nalapur army in a roughly fortified camp. Famine and 
pestilence had proved too slow in their work, and the final 
arbitrament was to be sharp and short. 

In the course of the afternoon a white flag was hoisted 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL, 


281 


on General Keeling’s house, and when the garrison had 
replied to it, Bahram Khan rode out on the cleared space, 
surrounded by his own guard and the Nalapuri officers. 
Colonel Graham and Mr Burgrave faced him at the loophole 
of the turret, Dick lurking in the shadows behind them, and 
received what was announced as a final offer of terms. 
Stripped of the verbiage in which it was enwrapped, this 
was simply a demand for unconditional surrender. Bahram 
Khan would do his best to save the lives of the garrison, 
but the fury of the Amir was so great that he could not 
guarantee even that, and every shred of public and personal 
property was to be relinquished. Colonel Graham returned 
a prompt refusal. To propose a surrender was preposterous, 
unless the besiegers were prepared to guarantee the lives of 
all in the fort. Upon this Bahram Khan sent a messenger 
back into his own lines, ostensibly to consult the wishes of 
the Amir, and when he returned, announced joyfully that 
the stipulation was accepted. The instant and obvious 
retort was that the Amir must show himself in person, and 
swear to observe the conditions, if the thought of capitula- 
tion was to be entertained; but to this Bahram Khan 
demurred for a long time, displaying a singular fertility of 
excuse. The Amir was ill, he was resting, he had sworn 
not to exchange another word with an Englishman who was 
not his prisoner, he was in such a frenzied state that to 
insist upon his appearance would probably goad him to 
order a general massacre forthwith. Colonel Graham 
pointed out politely that since the besieged were stiU under 
the protection of their own walls and weapons, there was no 
immediate fear of such a contingency, and at last Bahram 
Khan himself withdrew into the town, in order, as he ex- 
plained, to lavish all his entreaties upon his uncle, and 
persuade him to appear. 

Presently a state palanquin was seen approaching, borne 
by sixteen men, who carried it out upon the cleared space, 
and set it down. 

“What’s this?” murmured Dick. “Ashraf Ali in a 
valid 1 I’ve never seen him in one in my life.” 

Bahram Khan, who had ridden in advance of the palan- 
quin, now dismounted, and approaching it with extreme 
deference, raised the heavy gold-embroidered curtain at the 
side. Those in the turret strained their eyes to pierce the 


282 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


dimness within, and made out with some difficulty the figure 
of the white-bearded ruler, sitting motionless, as though 
absorbed in meditation. 

“ He’s stupefied ! ” came in a fierce whisper from Dick. 
“ They’ve given him opium or something of the sort.” 

Colonel Graham addressed the Amir politely, but no 
answer was vouchsafed. It was Bahram Khan who replied 
for him, in the silkiest of tones. < 

“ The Amir Sahib refuses to look upon the sahibs, or to 
listen to their words, until they have surrendered to him.” 

“ Oh, does he ? ” said Dick, and he stepped forward be- 
tween Colonel Graham and the Commissioner, and showed 
himself at the loophole. 

“ Amir Sahib, do you know my voice ? ” he cried. 

An electric shock seemed to pass through the inanimate 
form in the palanquin. “ Is that thv'^ voice of Nath Sahib?” 
was asked, in high, quavering tones. “ Then can this most 
unhappy one die in peace.” 

“ Do you guarantee our safety, Amir Sahib ? ” asked Dick. 

“Trust them not,” came back the answer. “See how 
they treat me ! ” and the old man rose as though to step 
out of the palanquin. There were chains on his wrists 
and ankles. The next moment Bahram Khan and his 
followers, recovering from their surprise, had thrown them- 
selves upon him and forced him back, and the palanquin 
was immediately carried away. 

“ Well, after this, I think even Bahram Khan must feel 
that the capitulation idea has been knocked on the head,” 
said Dick. “Now everything depends on whether they 
attack us at once.” 

“ Isn’t that a rather obvious remark ? ” asked Mr Burgrave 
dryly. 

“ Ah, you don’t see my point,” said Dick, without taking 
offence. “ I think Colonel Graham will agree with me that 
since Bahram Kian has thrown off the mask, and made 
himself master of Nalapur, it shows he is determined to 
crush us at once. Evidently the relieving column is on its 
way, or famine might have been left to do the work.” 

“ I see what you mean,” said Colonel Graham. “ If he 
attacks at once, it means that relief is close at hand, but if 
he gives his men a night’s rest, the column is still far 
enough off for him to take things easily.” 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL. 


283 


“That^s it. Well, since he^s so bent on putting the 
blame on his uncle, it^s clear that he means to come the 
injured innocent over our men when they get up. We here 
know too much now to be allowed to escape, but the order 
for massacring us must be given by the Amir, who will be 
murdered by his virtuously indignant nephew as soon as it 
has been carried out. We are safe just so long as we can 
hold out, and the Amir , is safe while we are. That’s the 
situation. Now if we are left in peace for to-night, I mean 
to get through and hurry up the relieving column.” 

“ I thought so,” said the Colonel, “ and I mean you to do 
nothing of the kind. Why, man, you couldn’t walk a mile 
in the state you are in. You ought to be in hospital now. 
We have no medical comforts left to feed you up with, but 
at least we can see that you have a rest.” 

“ I shall get on somehow. I don’t mind telling you that 
I have designs on the tribes on my way. We have eaten 
each other’s salt, and they won’t hurt me.” 

“Possibly not, but they would stop you, and Bahram 
Khan would soon find a way of getting you out of their 
hands. I won’t let you go on any such fool’s errand.” 

“ I think the civil and the political power will have to 
combine against the military,” said Dick, turning to the 
Commissioner, who had stood by with a “ Settle it between 
yourselves ” air. “ What do you think ? ” 

“ As a military man yourself, you are hardly the person 
to organise such a revolt,” was the reply, “and I am de- 
barred from it by the delegation of authority to which I 
agreed at the beginning of the siege.” The tone was abrupt, 
and Dick and Colonel Graham glanced at one another in 
surprise, but the Commissioner went on, “If the decision 
lay in my hands, I should absolutely forbid your going. 
Your wife may at least claim to be spared useless torture, 
and you can’t expect to get the V.C. twice over.” 

“ I am glad you agree with me,” said the Colonel heartily, 
ignoring the stiffness of the tone. “ Consider yourself sat 
upon, North.” 

“ I beg your pardon, sir,” said Fitz, coming up the steps 
and addressing the Colonel, “but there’s a queer light to 
the westward, which doesn’t seem like the sunset. We 
thought it might possibly be a signal.” 

Colonel Graham wheeled round sharply. “No, it’s cer- 


284 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MAECHES. 


tainly not the sunset,” he said, looking through the doorway 
which led on to the ramparts. “ Somewhere behind Gun 
Hill on the south-west, I should say. What do you think 
of looking at it from the broken tower?” to the Commis- 
sioner. “ You come too. North.” 

“What in the world are Papa and the Major and Mr 
Burgrave climbing up there for ? ” demanded Flora, a few 
minutes later. She was sitting with the other inmates of 
the Memsahibs’ courtyard in Georgia’s verandah — such part 
of it as had survived the earthquake — watching the sunset, 
and it was natural that the acrobatic feats necessary for 
reaching the top of the south-west tower should catch her 
eye at once. 

“ They are gone to look at some sort of fire that there 
seems to be in the hiUs,” said Fitz, who came in just then. 

“A fire? Oh, perhaps ” Flora stopped suddenly, 

for Mr Hardy had sprung up from his chair in wild ex- 
citement. 

“ A fire ? ” he cried. “ Nicodemus ! ” and rushed out of 
the courtyard. 

“ Is Mr Hardy beginning to swear ? ” asked Mabel, in an 
awed voice, of the rest, but even Mrs Hardy was too much 
astonished to rebuke her. 

“ He’ll kill himself ! ” she murmured, as she saw her 
husband mounting the broken steps that led up to the 
tower. 

“Why, Padri, what’s the matter?” asked Colonel Graham, 
turning round to see the old missionary toiling after him. 
“ Take my hand across here.” 

“I am so sorry — I can never forgive myself — ^it quite 
slipped my memory,” panted Mr Hardy. “ It was a Malik 
from one of the tribes to the south-west — he came to me 
secretly — to ask about Christianity — I called him Nicodemus 
to myself. The night the siege began — he came to warn 
me — and promised to light a fire in the hiUs — when relief 
was at hand. I was so busy hurrying the Christians into 
the fort, and helping them to save their possessions, that I 
never remembered the matter again.” 

“ Well, it doesn’t signify so much, since you have remem- 
bered it now,” said the Colonel kindly. “Did the man 
seem to you trustworthy ? ” 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL. 


285 


“ He took his life in his hand to warn me that night, and 
of course when he came before he risked losing everything. 
His name was Hasrat Isa, curiously enough, and he seemed 
to me to be genuinely in earnest.” 

Thanks, Padri. You have brought us the best news 
we could desire. We must manage to hold out now.” 

“ This settles it,” muttered Dick. “ Can I have a word 
or two with you ? ” he asked of the Commissioner, and they 
moved across to the other side of the tower, Mr Burgrave’s 
face wearing an absolutely non-committal expression. 

“ You see how it is ? ” said Dick. “ This gives me just 
the pull I wanted over the tribes. Of course the one thing 
now is to detach them from Bahram Khan before our men 
come up, and to save the Amir. They know me and trust 
me, and if I assure them that an overwhelming force is 
close at hand, I believe they will be ready to lay down their 
arms. Of course they will have to give up all their loot and 
to pay a fine of rifles, but they know enough of us by this 
time to prefer that to a war of extermination. Then about 
the Amir. He’s safe for the present, as I said, but I haven’t 
a doubt his guards have got orders to kill him when the head 
of the column appears, if we are still holding out then. I 
shall try to get the tribes to rescue him. But now for the 
crux of the whole thing. If I am to have the faintest hope 
of success, I must be able to tell the tribes that we mean to 
hold on to Nalapur when the rising is put down. Other- 
wise as soon as Bahram Khan has made terms he will 
establish himself in his uncle’s place, and wipe out all who 
submitted before him. Have I a free hand to do it ? ” 

“ Why consult me ? ” asked the Commissioner coldly. 

“ Because it depends upon you. The announcement of 
our intended withdrawal has never been actually made, 
thanks to the ambush on the road to the durbar, and it 
rests with you to withhold it altogether. Of course I know 
I’m inviting you to reverse your policy, and all that sort of 
thing, but I don’t believe you’re the man to weigh that 
against the peace of the frontier.” 

“ Are you aware that I came to Khemistan for the ex- 
press purpose of carrying out the policy you invite me to 
reverse ? ” 

“Yes, and I know it means you will probably have to 
resign, and will certainly get the cold shoulder at Simla. 


286 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


But I call upon you to do it, just as I am staking every- 
thing myself — and I have a wife and child. It will prevent 
no one knows how much bloodshed, the desolation of 
hundreds of miles of country, and years of unrest and bitter 
feeling, for the Government can’t press things against the 
opinion, not only of the man on the spot, but of their own 
official converted by observation of the facts. They will 
shunt us — that’s only to be expected — but it will save the 
frontier.” 

“ You are right, and it must be done. You are at liberty 
to tell the tribes that I throw all my influence on the side 
of maintaining the treaty with NalapUr.” 

“ Thanks. If anything happens to me, look after my 
wife and the boy.” 

The trust was the seal of the newly born friendliness be- 
tween them, and Mr Burgrave felt it so. “ God knows,” he 
said, with more emotion than Dick had seen him display 
before, “ I wish I could risk my life as you are doing, but 
at least I’ll do what I can.” 

Without another word, Dick crossed to the spot where 
Colonel Graham was standing, stiU examining the distant 
glare through his field-glass. 

“ Our friend Nicodemus has gone to work very shrewdly,” 
he said, as Dick came up. “ I should say that his signal is 
absolutely invisible to any one on the plain. We only see 
it because we are so high up.” 

“ So much the better,” said Dick. “ I suppose you’ve 
guessed what our plotting was about. Colonel ? I have my 
plans all cut and dried by this time, and with the civil 
and the political power both against you, you’U have to 
let me go. Assuming that there won’t be any attack till 
dawn, I shall take Anstruther with me, and creep out as 
soon as it’s really dark. He must go across the hills and 
hunt for the relief column, and guide it here when he has 
found it, and I shall set to work to palaver the tribes.” 

“ They’ll shoot you at sight,” groaned the Colonel. 

“I hope not. At any rate, for argument’s sake, we’ll 
take it that they don’t. Of course my dodge will be to get 
them to delay the attack by insisting beforehand on an 
impossible proportion of loot. While their messengers and 
Bahram Khan’s are going to and fro, Anstruther, knowing 
the ground, ought to be able to bring up the column. 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL. 


287 


When I see his signal, the tribes will hasten to make 
graceful concessions, and Bahram Khan will order the 
attack. While he is occupied at the front, a few of the 
tribesmen and I will make a dash for the Amir , and the 
column will get its guns into position. Then, if aU goes 
well, a grand transformation scene. The guns plump a shell 
or two into the advancing ranks, the Sikhs and Goorkhas, 
and possibly a British regiment, make their appearance on 
the heights, the tribesmen turn their rifles against their own 
side, and the Amir shows himself and orders his revolted 
army to surrender. If they won’t, their blood will be upon 
their own heads, as they’ll soon see, but I think only 
Bahram Khan and a few irreconcilables will refuse.” 

“ And you ? ” demanded the Colonel. “ Your programme 
doesn’t provide for your being killed a dozen times over, 
does it? What will Mrs North say when she hears what 
you think of doing ? ” 

“ She will tell me to go. The tribes are as much her 
people as mine — more so, indeed. I am going to tell her now.” 

He clambered down the ruined staircase, found Fitz and 
told him briefly what he wanted of him, and then went to 
Georgia’s room, where he set himself to catch her with guile 
— a process which, as he ought to have known, had not the 
faintest chance of success. 

“ Do you remember the last time I went away, Georgie ? ” 
he asked, as he sat down beside her. 

Georgie looked up at him with a thrill of alarm. “ Do 
you think I could ever forget it, Dick ? Not if I lived for 
hundreds of years.” 

“ We almost quarrelled, didn’t we ? You were in the 
right, of course — I knew it all along, but I had to go. You 
don’t like me to go out treaty-breaking, do you ? ” 

“No.” Her voice was almost inaudible. 

“ But it’s all right if I go treaty-making, isn’t it ? just to 
get the tribes to feel what fools they’ve been, and make them 
see reason ? ” 

“ Oh, Dick, must you go ? so soon ? and you have been 
away so long ! ” 

“ You jump at things so suddenly,” lamented Dick. “ I 
wanted to break it gently to you.” 

“ My dear stupid boy, do you think I don’t know your 
way of breaking things gently yet 1 ” 


288 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“Well, anyhow, you’ll let me go, won’t youl without 
making a fuss, I mean f ” 

“ A fuss ! Do I ever make a fuss 1 ” 

“ Oh, you know what I mean — without making me feel a 
brute for doing it ? ” 

“ You know I would never keep you back from what was 
really your duty.” 

“ That’s all right, then,” Dick failed to notice the distinc- 
tion thus delicately implied. “ And I’m going to try and 
save aU your father’s work from being ruined, so it must be 
my duty, mustn’t it ? ” 

“ I suppose so. And I am forbidden to make a fuss ? ” 

“ Oh yes, please, absolutely — unless it would comfort you 
awfully to do it.” 

“ It wouldn’t comfort you. That’s what I have to think 
of. When do you start, Dick ? ” 

“ In an hour or so — as soon as it’s properly dark.” 

^ “ Then there’s plenty of time. I should so like the boy 

to be baptized before you go.” 

“Why notl I suppose the Padri won’t kick at the 
shortness of the notice? Georgie, will you be very much 
surprised ? I should like to ask Burgrave to be godfather.” 

“ Dick ! ” Georgia’s tone was full of dismay. “ I thought 
of Colonel Graham — ” Dick nodded approval — “ and either 

Fitz Anstruther or Dr Tighe ” 

“ I’d rather have Burgrave, if you don’t mind. He has 
come out strong to-night. I respect him more than any 
man I know. In his place I don’t believe I could have 
made the sacrifice he’s prepared to make.” 

“ Then we will have him, of course. But Mabel is the 
godmother, naturally. Won’t she feel it awkward? You 
know they have quarrelled ? ” 

“ That’s putting it mildly. I’m afraid it’s quite off.” 

“ Ah, that’s what I was afraid of, too, but Mab always 
refuses to discuss the subject with me until I am stronger. 
I can’t force her confidence, you know.” 

“I suppose not, but there’s no need to be so awfully 
careful of her feelings. She has treated Burgrave shame- 
fully, and so far as I can see, without the slightest excuse. 
She insists on engaging herself to him, and then she goes 
and breaks it off for no reason whatever. I’m disgusted 
•with her.” 


THB FIRE ON THE HILL. 


289 


** Oh, Dick, don’t be unkind to her ! If she didn’t care 
for him it was only right to break it off. I told you she 
was miserable about it.” 

“ Then she had no business to begin it. But don’t let us 
waste time over her nonsense, Georgie. Shall I go and speak 
to the Padri 'I ” He opened the door, and stepped out on the 
verandah. “Why, Anstruther, you here? It’s not nearly 
dark enough to start yet.” 

Fitz smothered an exclamation of impatience. This was 
the second time he had been foiled in half-an-hour in an 
attempt to get a few words with Mabel. He had succeeded 
in catching her alone for a moment immediately after Dick 
had told him of the adventure in which he was to take part, 
and then Flora came and called her away, because the baby 
was breathing heavily in its sleep, and she was afraid some- 
thing was wrong with it. On this occasion he had got 
hold of Flora herself, wasting no time in preliminaries. 

“ Oh, I say. Miss Graham, could you manage to get 
Mabel here without telling her that I want to see her 1 I 
must speak to her before I go. I’m certain she cares for 
me a little, but she was so determined I should not see it 
that I couldn’t insult her by letting on that I did. But 
there’s no time now for any more fooling. I must tell her 
what I have to say, and there’s an end of it.” 

“ Now, why couldn’t you have said that before 1” demanded 
Flora. “ That’s the right way to take her. I’ll have her 
here in a moment,” and even now she was beguiling her out 
on the verandah when Dick appeared to announce that the 
baptism was to take place at once, and Fitz’s hopes were 
again disappointed. There would be no chance of speaking 
to Mabel now for some time, and he left the courtyard and 
joined Winlock on the broken tower, where he was keeping 
a solitary watch in case the relieving force should attempt 
to communicate with the fort by means of flash-light signals. 
Their eyes, strained with staring into the darkness, showed 
them lights at every possible and impossible point in the 
more distant hiUs, until at last they abandoned the tantalis- 
ing prospect, and talked in whispers of the expected relief. 

“ To think that by this time to-morrow we may have had 
a good square meal ! ” sighed Winlock. 

“ Beef, not horse,” murmured Fitz sympathetically. 

“ And tinned things — though I shall always feel a delicacy 

T 


290 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


about tins in future. They’ve been ‘medical comforts, 
strictly reserved for the sick,’ such a long time.” 

“ And real bread, instead of this abominable bran 
mash.” 

“ And as much to drink as ever you want — and soap — 
and baths — ” He stopped suddenly, for Fitz had caught 
him by the arm. “What is it^’ he whispered. 

“I’m sure I heard a noise down below. Help me to 
move this sand-bag.” 

The sand-bag on the parapet was pushed aside, and Fitz 
put his head through the gap thus left, but only just far 
enough to see over the edge, lest he should be visible 
against the sky. It was clear that the enemy were keep- 
ing high festival in all their camps, for the air was full of 
the sound of tomtoms and similar instruments, and snatches 
of wild song. To Winlock it seemed impossible to detect 
any noise less insistent or nearer at hand, but Fitz looked 
and listened until his friend hauled him back. 

“Well, is there anything ? ” he demanded impatiently. 

“I’m almost certain there is. You take a look.” 

“ I’m not a cat,” whispered Winlock in disgust, when he 
had drawn his head back in his turn. “ Can’t see a thing.” 

“ Well, I am, rather, in that way, and I believe there’s a 
fellow down there.” 

Again he put his head into the opening, and supporting 
his face on his hands, concentrated all his attention on the 
foot of the wall. After several minutes, which seemed like 
hours to Winlock, he faced him again. 

“There is a man down there, and his clothes are dark, 
so as not to show. He has put two bags against the wall, 
and he has crawled away to fetch another.” 

“ Going to blow down the tower ? ” 

“Yes, it’s their best chance. Half gone already, you 
see. Well, will you clear the men off the near half of the 
wall, and teU the Colonel, so as to be ready for develop- 
ments ? I’m going to nip the villain in the bud.” 

“Nonsense, he’ll knife you! And how wiU you get 
downH’ 

“Climb down the broken brickwork and drop.” He 
drew off his boots. “ I shall take him by surprise. Don’t 
let any one fire, whatever you do. It would explode the 
powder at osce. Be off.” 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL. 


291 


Winlock obeyed, and hurried to alarm the Colonel, after 
hastily calling down the sentries, the noise of whose own 
footsteps effectually prevented their noticing any suspicious 
sound. Richard St George Keeling had just received his 
name, and was accepting the congratulations of the repre- 
sentatives of the regiment on the auspicious event with Jhis 
usual composure, when Winlock came into the courtyard 
and drew Colonel Graham aside. Before he could utter a 
word, however, there was an explosion which seemed to 
shake the very foundations of the fort, followed by the 
collapse of various portions of the newly-repaired defences. 

“ I’m afraid the wall’s gone, sir,” gasped Winlock, when 
he recovered himself. 

“ Not a bit of it,” said the Colonel, pointing to the dark 
line above the roofs; but before anything more could be 
said, the sentry on the north-west tower gave the alarm. 
There was no time for anything but a rush to the walls, 
which were only reached just as a hurrying mob of men, 
some carrying torches, others scaling-ladders, advanced in 
wild confusion, shouting and singing, from the shelter of 
the plane trees. A couple of volleys sent them flying back 
in headlong rout, and beyond a shot or two from General 
Keeling’s house there was no semblance of an attack on 
any other side of the fort. The officers gathered on the 
rampart looked at one another in complete mystiflcation. 

“ I never remember a worse-planned attack,” said Colonel 
Graham. “ In fact there was no plan about it. And yet 
the explosion ” 

“Yes, but how came it to do so little damage?” said 
Dick. Some additional masses of brickwork had been torn 
from the tower, and the sand-bags were flung about, but 
the wall was comparatively uninjured. 

“Probably the powder became ignited before it was pro- 
perly placed in position,” suggested Mr Burgrave. “ If the 
man in charge intended to use a slow match, the attack 
may only have been planned for dawn, so that the various 
parties were naturally not prepared. This fiasco here was 
a kind of drunken forlorn hope, started simply by the noise 
of the explosion.” 

“Yes, but why should the powder get ignited? Why, 
Winlock ! ” The young man h^ made his appearance with 
his arms full of rope. 


292 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ I -want to go down and look for Anstmther, sir. He 
must be awfully hurt, for lie was going to try and stop the 
explosion.” 

Half-an-hour later Mabel and Flora, waiting anxiously 
in the verandah to learn the result of the attack, heard in 
the passage the slow tread of a body of men carrying some- 
thing. Dick was at their head. 

“ We’ll bring him in here, as the hospital is full,” he was 
saying. “As I shall be away, there’ll be the room I had 
last night to spare, and the ladies will help to look after 
him.” 

“Who is itl What has happened?” asked the two 
girls together. 

“ Poor old Anstruther has got himself blown up instead 
of the fort,” returned Dick. “Take care of that corner, 
Woodworth.” 

“What is the matter with him? Is he badly hurt?” 
asked Mabel hoarsely. 

“ Can’t say yet. On second thoughts. Colonel, I’ll take 
Winlock, if you can spare him. He knows the country 
round here so much better than Beltring.” 

“Dick, are you absolutely heartless?” Mabel grasped 
her brother’s arm, and shook him. “ Is he dying ? ” 

“How can I tell? He was just alive when we found 
him.” 

“ I must be with him. I will nurse him,” she managed 
to say. 

“You’U do nothing of the kind. It’s no sight for you, 
and we don’t want fainting and hysterics. For Heaven’s 
sake, Mabel, don’t make a scene ! ” he added, in a whisper 
of angry disgust. “It’s not as if he was anything to you.” 

“ I have a right ” she began with difficulty. 

“Keep her away, Burgrave,” said Dick curtly, turning 
his head for a moment, and the Commissioner drew her 
hand within his arm, and led her in silence to the other 
side of the courtyard. In the tumult of her anger and 
mortification, she struggled furiously at first, but he de- 
clined to release her, and presently she found herself 
deposited in a chair, with Mr Burgrave standing over her 
like a jailer. Between her sobs she could hear him talk- 
ing, apparently with the charitable intention of at once 


THE FIRE ON THE HILL. 293 

comforting her for her exclusion and assuring her that the 
cause of her emotion remained unsuspected. 

“ Anxious to be of use — highly delicate nervous organisa- 
tion — might distract the doctor’s attention at a critical 
moment — your brother meant kindly — ” were some of the 
scraps that reached her ears. 

“ It’s not that ! ” she cried wildly. “ He’ll die without 
my seeing him, and Dick says he’s nothing to me, and — 
and he’s everything ! ” and her sobs died away into low, 
hopeless weeping, which wrung the heart of the man before 
her. She did not think of him until she felt an unsteady 
touch on her hair, and looking up at him, saw that not only 
his hands but his very lips were trembling. 

• “ Don’t cry so,” he said hoarsely ; “ you break my heart. 

Then you are engaged to him ? I never dreamt of this.” 

“No, I’m not — but it’s my own fault. He asked me 
long ago — and I told him it could never be — and I was so 
horrid that — he never asked me again. And now they 
won’t let me go to him — and I wanted — ^just to tell him — 
before he died — that — that ” 

“That he might die happy? No, no, I am in earnest,” 
as Mabel threw him a glance of reproach. “I could die 
happy in his case.” 

“ Oh, how wicked — how mean — ^I am, to say aU this to 
you ! And I have treated you so badly — What can you 
think of me ? ” 

“What should I think but that you are the woman I 
hoped to shield from every breath of trouble, and now you 
are in this sorrow, and I can do nothing ? ” 

“ Oh, but you can ! ” cried Mabel impulsively. “ It’s no 
good speaking to Dick, but Dr Tighe will listen to you, and 
you can ask him to let me help to nurse him.” 

“ I have no doubt he wiU be willing to do that — or if it 
is not possible, I am sure he wiU promise to call you if any 
change for the worse occurs.” 

“ Oh, you won’t believe in me even now ! You don’t 
think I could be brave even for him. If it was to do him 
good, I could ” 

“Your seeing h im now could do him no possible good, 
and the sight would haunt you for ever. I think you don’t 
quite trust me, do you ? Try to think of me as a friend, as 
one who would a thousand times rather see you happy with 


294 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


the man you loved than unhappy with himself. And 
perhaps” — he hesitated a little — “you may like to know 
that you have lifted a weight from my mind to-night. I 
confess it seemed to me a cruel thing when you broke off 
our engagement without any special reason, but now I 
know that you love some one else, I feel it was quite 
natural and right.” 

Mabel saw his meaning dimly. The sting of her treat- 
ment of him had lain in the feeliiig that though there was 
no one else she preferred, she valued so lightly the love he 
offered that she refused even to tolerate it. Now his self- 
respect was restored. It was for a tangible rival, not foi 
freedom in the abstract^ tlmt she had cast him off 


CHAPTER XXIIL 


AN ABDICATION. 

“ Mab, are you awake ? ” 

“ Go away ; I hate you ! ” was the muffled reply. Mabel 
had thrown herself, dressed, upon her bed, and her face was 
buried in the pillow. She shook off Flora’s hand angrily 
from her shoulder as she spoke. 

“ Why, Mab, I only wanted to tell you What have 

I done?” 

Mabel sat up and pushed back her hair. “ They let you 
go and help with him,” she said venomously, “and they 
kept me out. Dick called you — I heard him myself. And 
they wouldn’t let me come. Eustace held my hands. And 
you went — and helped them.” 

“ I didn’t do anything but hold things for them, really. 
Dr Tighe did it all, and your brother helped him. I had 
to go when they called me.” 

“Did he look at you — recognise you? If he did. I’ll 
never forgive you.” 

“ No, not a bit. But, Mab ” 

“ I’m glad of that, at any rate. And you came to say I 
might go to him now ? ” 

“ Yes, Mr Burgrave spoke to Dr Tighe. But don’t say 
you’re glad he didn’t look at me. It will make you miser- 
able all your life to have even thought it.” 

“Why, what is the matter?” asked Mabel impatiently, 
as Flora barred her way to the door. 

“ I can’t let you go into the room without realising it. 
His — his hair is aU burnt off, Mab, and he’s fearfully 
scorched. You can’t see anything but bandages, and he is 
quite insensible.” 

“'It’s only the shock. He must come round soon.” 

“ That’s not all. I must tell you. The explosion seems 
296 


296 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


to have paralysed all his faculties. He is deaf and dumb 
and blind — for the time.” 

“Oh, for the time, of course. But he won’t be deaf 
when I speak to him. Don’t keep me here, Flora. I want 
to wake him.” 

Flora drew back reluctantly, and Mabel ran across the 
courtyard. At the door of the sick-room, which was a 
makeshift structure erected since the earthquake at the 
corner where two verandahs joined, she met Dr Tighe. 

“So I hear you want to play at nursing a little. Miss 
North?” he said, not unkindly, but by no means as if he 
regarded her intention as serious. “Do you think you 
won’t fall asleep ? Can you keep cool, whatever happens ? 
Not that you could do much harm if you went into hysterics,” 
he added, half to himself. “ The poor fellow wo^dn’t be 
disturbed.” 

Even this slighting estimate of her powers did not pro- 
voke Mabel to protest. “ What have I to do ? ” she asked, 
with determined calmness, and the doctor looked at her 
curiously. 

“ I want you to sit beside him and watch for any sound 
or movement. If there is the least change, send for me at 
once. I must spend the night over at the hospital, but I 
am leaving my boy in the verandah here, and he will fetch 
me whenever you want me.” 

“ Wait, please. May I speak to him ? ” 

“Who — the boy? Oh, the patient. Yes, of course, as 
much as you like, if it will ease your mind. Didn’t I tell 
you that he couldn’t hear you ? ” He glanced sharply at 
her, but she turned away from him, and went into the room 
without saying anything, leaving him puzzled. “ I feel a 
bit of a brute,” he said to himself, as he crossed to the 
passage leading into the hospital, “ but she must keep up. 
I don’t want her on my hands in hysterics, in addition to 
all the rest.” 

Mabel sat down quietly beside the bed. A smoky native 
lamp shed a flickering light through the little room, render- 
ing dimly visible the swathed flgure which lay absolutely 
motionless in its shroud of bandages. Of the face nothing 
could be seen, and the bandaged hands were stretched 
straight at the sides. A great terror seized Mabel. Surely 
he must be dead ? She laid her hand timidly on the wrist 


AN ABDICATION. 


297 


nearest her, so lightly as scarcely to touch it, but the contact 
served to reassure her. He was still living, and she resigned 
herseK to her silent and solitary watch. 

At first she was so much absorbed in listening and looking 
for the sounds and movements which never came, that she 
had no thought of her surroundings, but after a time they 
forced themselves upon her notice. The deathlike silence 
aU around, the presence of that shrouded form upon the 
bed, the uncertain light — aU combined to strain her nerves 
to their utmost tension. She would have risen and walked 
about, in the hope of breaking the spell, but she discovered 
that she had no power to stir. The semi-darkness was full 
of shadows for which she could not account, and small 
mysterious noises sounded in her ears like thunder-claps. 
Over and over again she thought she saw her patient move, 
only to find that her eyes had deceived her, and the breath- 
less expectation did but increase the strain upon her. By 
degrees her terror grew almost uncontrollable, but she 
fought against it doggedly. Never in her life had she 
placed such constraint upon herself. The door was so near, 
two steps would take her to it, and once outside she would 
be safe from the shadows and the silence. But she gripped 
her chair hard with both hands, and at last the impulse 
passed away. Next came the temptation to scream — to 
shriek, sing, do anything to break the stillness. She was 
shaking from head to foot ; it seemed utterly impossible to 
check her sobs, yet she succeeded in crushing them down. 
The struggle was a fearful one, and she felt that her self- 
command would not hold out much longer. She looked at 
her watch, and resolved to remain quiet for five minutes, 
whatever happened. When the five minutes was over, she 
renewed the resolution for another five minutes, and so on, 
and the expedient was successful for a time. Then it 
became more and more difficult to maintain, and the periods 
of five minutes dwindled to four, three, and finally one. 
She gazed at the watch aghast. It was impossible that so 
much agony and mental stress could have been crowded 
into one minute. But the watch had not stopped, and she 
gave up the conflict, and burst into tears. 

“ Fitz ! ” she wailed, dropping on her knees beside the 
bed. “ Fitz ! ” 

Surely he would hear. Georgia had said that Dick’s 


298 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


voice would reach her if she were dead. But in this case 
there was no answer. 

“Oh, Fitz, speak to me!” she entreated. “I am so 
frightened.” 

The piteous voice died away. It must have availed to 
pierce the silence which enwrapped him, she thought, and 
yet he would not speak. Could it be that he was resolved 
to punish her for her coldness in the past, to humble her 
pride in return for all she had made him suffer ? Or per- 
haps he did not understand even yet. 

“ Fitz,” she murmured softly, “ I love you.” 

No sooner had the words escaped her lips than she sprang 
up aghast. They seemed to be echoed back by the walls on 
every side, to be whispered by mocking sprites, to clang like 
the strokes of great bells. “ I love you I I love you I ” The 
air was full of them, and she was overwhelmed with shame. 

“Oh, if you don’t hate me, say just one word!” she 
sobbed. “I am so ashamed, but you said you loved me. 
Oh, Fitz, it’s not like you to be so unkind ! And I thought 
you would be glad to know.” 

Surely he must answer now? — but she sobbed on, and 
there came no word of comfort. 

“Well, Miss North, and what’s aU this about?” said 
Dr Tighe. 

He stood at the door, looking in at her, and Mabel sprang 
to her feet and confronted him, shaking with sobs, her face 
stained with tears. 

“It’s — ^it’s only — ^I was speaking to him, and he won’t 
answer,” she managed to say. 

“But I told you he wouldn’t. He can’t. Why, he 
doesn’t even hear you.” 

“ I thought I could make him hear.” 

“As well try to wake the dead. No, no; what an idiot 
I am ! ” as she recoiled from him in terror. “ Purely a 
figure of speech, nothing more. Now I will take a turn of 
watching, and do you go and get some rest.” 

“ Oh no, I won’t leave him. I am not a bit tired.” 

“Go to Mrs North. She can’t sleep either, and she and 
her ayah have got some coffee for you. It will soon be 
daylight, and you had better rest while you can.” 

“As if I should think of leaving him ! ” repeated Mabel 
in scorn. 


AN ABDICATION. 


299 


“I won’t be defied by my own nurses, Miss North. If 
you don’t go peaceably, I’U have you gently assisted out^ 
and once outside this room you won’t get in again.” 

“ Oh, how can you be so unkind ! ” sobbed Mabel, break- 
ing down abjectly. 

“ I am not unkind. I want you to help me a great deal 
with the poor fellow, and that’s why I insist upon your 
resting now. You shall come on duty again in four hours 
or so, and I’ll promise faithfully to call you if there’s any 
change in the meantime.” 

Slowly and reluctantly Mabel left the room, and went 
along the verandah to Georgia’s door. Georgia was sitting 
up in a long cane chair, and welcomed her cheerfully. 

“ Come in, Mab. It seems absurdly early to be up, but 
I knew how cold and miserable you would feel after being 
awake aU night. This is the very last of the coffee. Dr 
Tighe has lavished it upon us recklessly on the chance of 
our being relieved to-day, so make the most of it.” 

“ I couldn’t touch it, Georgie ! ” with a gesture of disgust. 

“ Oh yes, you can, to please me. After you have drunk 
it you shall He down on my bed, and if you can’t sleep, we 
will talk. Why, you are shivering! !]^t on that shawl, 
and now drink the coffee,” and Mabel obeyed. 

“Let me stay here, Georgie,” she said when she had 
finished, sitting down on the floor, and laying her head on 
Georgia’s knee. “ I Hke to be close to you. You under- 
stand things.” Georgia stroked her hair softly, and she 
went on, “Other people don’t understand — even Flora, or 
Dr Tighe. And Dick was horrid last night. The only 
person who seems to know how I feel is poor Eustace — ^he 
understands.” 

“Yes, he has suffered himself.” 

“ And that is my fault. But I never knew how it hurt 
tiU now, Georgie, or I couldn’t have done it, and now that 
I do know, it’s too late. I know now how you feel about 
Dick, because of what I feel about him. I can’t bear any 
one else to do a single thing for him, and if he became 
conscious again while I was away, I should be ready to kill 
Dr Tighe. Isn’t it strange that to-day I would give any- 
thing to hear him say the things that made me so angry a 
Httle while ago, and that I have said things in his ear to- 
night that would have made him perfectly happy then, and 


300 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


now he can’t even hear them ? Oh, Georgie, if he should 
never hear them — he should die without recovering his 
senses ! ” 

“ We can only hope — ^and pray,” said Georgia gently. 

“ I know, but you must pray — I can’t. You have always 
been kind to him, at any rate ; I haven’t. I don’t deserve 
that he should get well, I know — but I do want him so 
much. When I think that he has been wasting his love 
upon me all this time, while I was too proud to take it, 
I feel it would serve me right if I never had the chance of 
telling him how glad and thankful I am to have it. But 
I do love him, Georgie, indeed I do.” 

“I know you do, Mab,” said Georgia, still passing her 
hand softly over Mabel’s hair. She would not allow a word 
of reproach to cross her lips, but in her heart there was 
a little tumult of wifely indignation. Mabel was so much 
engrossed with Fitz Anstruther as not even to remember 
that her brother had taken his life in his hand and gone 
straight into the enemy’s camp. “ But it is only natural. 
Perhaps I should do the same in her place,” thought Georgia, 
and continued the pleasant restful movement. Before very 
long Mabel was asleep, and she was still crouched upon the 
floor, leaning against Georgia, when Dr Tighe came to say 
that she might take her second turn of watching in the 
sick-room. She awoke with a start, while he was talking to 
Georgia in an excited whisper. 

“Yes, Mrs North, I’m certain there’s something up. 
Two or three distinct jirgahs seem to be going on in the 
enemy’s lines, and though they began to make preparations 
for fighting two hours ago, they don’t get any forrarder. 
And we are almost certain that there’s a movement of 
some kind in progress at the back of Gun HiU. There 
may be artillery there, taking up a position, or possibly 
the whole relief column is preparing to occupy the heights. 
If it’s anything of the sort, it’s aU due to that marvellous 
husband of yours, whom I’d make Viceroy this very hour 
if I had my way.” 

“And he would be excessively unhappy at Government 
House, and the cause of extreme misery to every one else,” 
laughed Georgia; but Mabel, who had been listening to 
their talk half asleep, sprang up. 

“ Oh, Doctor, is there any change 1 Is he awake 1 ” 


AN ABDICATION. 


301 


“No change whatever, I’m sorry to say. Have your 
breakfast before you come across, and then I’ll leave you 
in charge w^hile I go my morning rounds in the hospital.” 

Very soon Mabel was at her post again, wondering at the 
horror which night and silence had lent to the rough- waUed, 
commonplace little room. The full blaze of sunlight never 
reached this particular corner of the courtyard until late 
in the afternoon, but the hole which had been left as a 
window admitted a certain amount of light. Through 
it also there came pleasantly distant sounds of life and 
movement from the other parts of the fort. As Mabel 
sat with her eyes fixed upon the bed, the murmur of 
different noises lulled her into a state very nearly resem- 
bling sleep, and once again she thought she saw a movement, 
only to discover that it was merely fancy. Another period 
of intense vigilance passing gradually into semi-consciousness 
followed, the mere effort of concentrating her gaze on one 
object inclining her to slumber, and^then there came a 
sudden awakening. Was it thunder, or another earth- 
quake, or what could be the meaning of those tremendous 
crashes, each of which was welcomed by cries of delight 
from the walls ? 

“Guns, I suppose,” said Mabel to herself, still half 
asleep. “Perhaps it will wake him.” She bent forward 
eagerly, but there was still no movement, and she sat down 
again disappointed. The crashes and the shouts of joy 
overhead stiU continued, but she made no attempt to learn 
what was going on, not so much from reluctance to leave 
her post as from sheer lack of interest. Suddenly there 
came a different sound, a singing, shrieking noise, deepen- 
ing into a groan as it came nearer. She had never heard 
it before, and yet she knew by instinct what it meant. 

“ A shell ! ” she cried, springing up involuntarily. How- 
ever long she may live, she -v^ never remember that 
moment without a blush of bitter humiliation, for she 
sprang up to run away. But the impulse was only 
momentary. Even before she could turn towards the 
door a rush of incredulous shame swept over her and 
made her throw herself on her knees by the bed. She 
clasped one of the bandaged hands in hers to give herself 
courage. “ I will die with him ! ” she said, and burying 
her face in the coverlet, waited. It seemed to her that she 


302 


THE WAEDEN OF THE MAECHES. 


waited for hours, and yet only the minutest fraction of time 
can have elapsed between her recognition of the nature 
of the sound and the concussion which followed — a, deafen- 
ing, rending noise, which seemed to comprise within itself 
all imaginable sounds of terror, and which w^as intensified 
a hundredfold by the echoes it evoked from the walls of 
the fort. To Mabel it felt as if the world was coming 
to an end, and she was being buried in the ruins, but 
at this point she lost consciousness, and knew no more 
until she found Dr Tighe and Flora dashing water into 
her face, rubbing her hands, and using various other 
means to revive her. Her first impression was of a blaze 
of intense light, and it only dawned upon her gradually 
that the roof of the room and the two walls facing the 
courtyard were gone, their shattered fragments lying in 
heaps around. 

“ I’ll never forgive myself ! ” cried Dr Tighe frantically. 
“What business ha^d I to be trespassing upon the walls, 
just to watch the practice our fellows were making, and 
leaving my patients to be killed without me ? The moment 
I saw the Nalapuri horse trying to escape across the canal, 
and the gun on the hill turned round to cover them, I said, 
‘ We’ll have a shell dumped into us in another minute,’ and 
sure enough we had.” 

“ What was it, then 1 ” asked Mabel feebly. 

“ Thank God you’re alive yet ! ’Twas one of our own 
shells that fell short, and as nearly as possible wrecked the 
whole place. I made sure you were done for when Miss 
Graham and I got you out.” 

“Oh, but what about him — ^is he safel” cried Mabel, 
starting up and pushing her way into the corner where the 
bed stood. Its position had protected it to a wonderful 
extent from the falling timbers of the roof and walls, but it 
was covered with smaller fragments, and enveloped in a 
haze of dust which was only now dispersing. But Mabel 
cared nothing for the dust or falling plaster. 

“ He’s talking ! ” she shrieked to Dr Tighe, who followed 
her, stumbling over the rubbish on the floor. “ Hush, oh, 
hush ! I must hear what he says.” 

Dr Tighe held his breath, and Flora quickly waved back 
the curious servants and others who had been attracted to 
the spot by the bursting of the shell, and withdrew with 


AN ABDICATION. 


303 


them out of earshot. Mabel, kneeling beside the bed, was 
listening hungrily to the words which poured from the 
patient’s lips, not spoken with any apparent difficulty, but 
rattled oflf in quick low tones. 

“ Awfully good job those Sikh fellows are making such a 
noise on the wall. I’m sure I dislodged something then, 
but I didn’t hear it fall. Perhaps it fell on our friend down 
below. Rather a startler for him, but he’ll be waiting for 
me. Hope he looks in the wrong place. This is the best 
point to drop from, I should think. Hope and trust there 
are no sharp bricks and things to come down upon. It’s 
creepy work. One, two, three, and away ! So far, so good. 
Now to stalk our friend. If he’s trying to stalk me at the 
same moment, our heads will probably meet with a bang. 
I’ll have my knife out — revolver would be too risky. 
Ah — h — h — h — what’s that ? The powder-bag. I’ll swear ; 
but I thought it was the man. Now if only I knew where 
you are at this moment, my friend, I would drag your bags 
to a safe distance, and give you a nice little hunt for them. 
But it would be awkward if you came on me from behind, 
so I’ll wait here. Wonder if my eyes shine in the dark 
like a cat’s 1 That would give him rather a turn ; he might 
think it was a tiger. Hullo ! back already, are you, and 
another lot of powder too? Now if you’U only leave it 
behind you, and retire gracefully for the moment, we’ll whip 
it up over the wall in no time, and requisition it for her 
Majesty’s service. Oh, that’s it, is it? Well, you are a 
cool hand, I must say, to make your bed on a heap of 
powder-bags! But I can’t stay watching you until you 
choose to make a move. I might sneeze, you know, so I’m 
afraid I must trouble you. Now then ! just hand over that 
knife. Oh, that’s your little game, is it? This is not 
playing fair. Firearms not allowed on any account. I 
say I ” 

There was a pause, a sigh, and the voice went on again. 

“ I never guessed these bricks would be so knobby. It’s 
rather rough negotiating them without any boots. Awfully 
good job those Sikh feUows are making such a noise on the 

wall. I’m sure I dislodged something then ” Mabel 

lifted an agonised face to the doctor. 

“ He’s saying the same things over again. What does it 
aU mean ? ” 


304 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ He is going over the last two or three minutes before 
the explosion. I suppose the thoughts and impressions of 
that time have fixed themselves in his mind, which seems to 
have been set working again by the shock of the bursting 
shell. Very likely he will go on like this.” 

“ What ! Always ? ” cried Mabel, in horror. 

“ We’U hope not, though I [have known cases in which 
the effect of such a shock has been permanent. The brain 
seems unable ever to receive any other impression afterwards. 
But he can’t well go on talking at this rate long, and when 
he’s exhausted he may sink into a stupor, and emerge in a 
more rational state of mind. I wonder whether his hearing 
has returned 1 Anstruther ! ” 

There was no answer. “You try,” said the doctor. 

“Fitz!” cried Mabel, her tones sharpened by anxiety; 
but the low monotonous voice rambled on, and there was no 
response to be discerned. 

“We can’t do anything. He must go on until he is 
tired,” said Dr Tighe. “And you had better go on the 
sick-list yourself. Miss North. You’re a good deal knocked 
about.” 

To her astonishment, Mabel found that this was the case. 
Bruises and flesh-wounds of which she had not been con- 
scious were painfully evident on her arms and shoulders, 
and her dress was torn in a dozen places. But she refused 
to leave her post until the time Dr Tighe had appointed her 
was over ; and perceiving that she would not be able to rest 
while Fitz was in this state, he consented to do what he 
could for her on the spot, and allowed her to remain for the 
present. It was almost more heart-rending to listen to the 
often-repeated story of the last few minutes of consciousness 
Fitz had known, than it had been to see him lying silent, 
but she remained at her post until the low hurrying tones 
became intermittent, and finally ceased altogether. By this 
time the servants had contrived, by means of screens and 
loose boards, partially to repair, or at least to conceal, the 
dilapidation of the room, for Dr Tighe declined to attempt 
the removal of the patient, assuring Mabel cheerfully that 
he was in the safest place in the fort. Even if the relieving 
column should chance to drop in a few more shells, all the 
probabilities were against their falling in the same spot. 
Thus assured, Mabel consented to allow her own hurts to 


AN ABDICATION. 


305 


be looked to, and swallowed with unexpected docility the 
draught which the doctor gave her. She did so the more 
readily that she began to be conscious she could not keep 
up much longer. The vigil and terror of the night, the 
alarm and anxiety of the day, seemed to have robbed her of 
every vestige of strength, and she had no mind to allow 
herself to be ousted from the post which was hers by right. 
If she was to continue in charge of Fitz, she must contrive 
to get the doctor on her side, and not alienate him by 
opposition to his orders. 

This time she had no difficulty in obtaining rest. Her 
eyes closed almost as soon as she threw herself on her bed, 
and she slept without waking until the evening. When at 
length she awoke, she sprang up in alarm. Why had no 
one called her? It was actually getting dark, and the 
courtyard looked utterly deserted. What had happened^! 
She threw on her dress, and ran along the verandah to the 
sick-room. Just as she reached it, the screen which served 
as a door was moved aside, and Dick and Dr Tighe came 
out, accompanied by a sunburnt elderly man in khaki 
campaigning uniform. 

“ My sister,” said Dick laconically. “We have been tak- 
ing Colonel Slaney to see Anstmther, Mab. Glad to say 
he thinks he’ll do.” 

“ Oh, really, really 1 ” cried Mabel, clasping her hands, 
and looking at the surgeon with eyes suddenly overflowing 
with tears. 

“ Well, he’ll never be much of a beauty again,” was the 
gruff reply. 

“ Oh, what does that signify 1 His mind — will that be 
all right 1 ” 

“ I hope so — ^if he can be kept from any more shocks. 
That shell to-day seems to have been a kill or cure business 
— I shouldn’t recommend any more of the same sort. You 
were there at the time — stuck to him — eh? Very plucky 
thing to do. Well, you just let him alone now. Don’t try 
to excite his feelings, or make him recognise you. Give the 
brain time to recover itself.” 

“ But you are sure it will be all right ? Oh, I can’t 
thank you properly for telling me this — but he will get 
quite well ? ” 

“Very ungrateful if he doesn’t, with such a nurse. 

U 


306 


THE WAEDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


Don’t go and wear yourself to a shadow looking after him 
while he’s insensible. You’ll need all your cheerfulness and 
good spirits when he recovers consciousness.” 

Mabel looked dumbly at Dr Tighe. What did this 
warning portend? The little man answered her mute 
appeal with friendly alacrity. 

“ At the best he’ll be rather badly scarred, Miss North, 
but we hope and trust there’ll be nothing else the matter. 
Colonel Slaney doesn’t mean to imply that you would mind 
the scars, or that the poor fellow wo^d care about them for 
his own sake, but it’s likely he will for yours.” 

“ I see. Thank you for telling me. I shall know what 
to do now,” said Mabel, quite calmly, though the screen 
trembled where her fingers were gripping it. 

“ Buck up. Queen Mab ! ” said Dick kindly, lingering 
behind the other two to give her an encouraging pat on the 
shoulder. “ Never say die ! ” 

She caught his hand and wrung it, reading in his action 
an apology for his hasty speech of the night before, and he 
smiled at her cheerily as she disappeared behind the screen. 
Fitz was stiU lying in the state of stupor in which she had 
left him, and she sat down beside the bed, and tried to lay 
her plans for the future. As she recalled what Colonel 
Slaney had said, it was natural that the man him self should 
recur to her mind. 

“ Why, we must be relieved ! ” she said to herself. “ How 
stupid of me never to have thought of it. Colonel Slaney 
belongs to the. column, of course. And Dick has come 
back safe, too. And I took it aU for granted, and nobody 
said anything. Where can Georgie be — and Flora ? ” 

Wondering again at the calm way in which the three men 
had ignored the almost incredible fact of the ending of the 
siege, she tried to recall her conversation with them, in 
order to see whether any allusion had been made to it, and 
suddenly remembered what had struck her vaguely at the 
time, the stranger’s manner. He had not addressed her in 
the way in which long experience had prepared her to be 
addressed; in fact, she missed the peculiar deference to 
which she was accustomed from the other sex. 

“ He spoke to me just as if I was any other woman ! ” 
she said to herself, with a ndiveU which would have struck 
her as laughable in any one else. “ He was kind and en- 


AN ABDICATION. 


307 


conraging — patronising, almost. Do I look very dreadful, 
I wonder ?” She cast a puzzled glance at her limp cotton 
gown. “ StiU, even then, it’s not usually my clothes that 
people think about. How Dick would laugh ! He’ll say 
that the celebrated smile failed of its effect for once.” 

Presently an unexpected solution of the mystery occurred 
to her. 

“ Perhaps I’m getting old and ugly, and people won’t 
care to talk to me any more. How dreadful to have to ask 
men to do things, instead of their rushing to do them of 
their own accord ! It wiU take a long time to get accus- 
tomed to it. Oh, and perhaps Fitz won’t care for me now ! 
If he leaves off loving me just as I have found out that I 
love him, what shall I do? I told Georgie once that I 
would give anything to care for any one as she cared for 
Dick, but I never thought of not being loved in return. 
There was some fairy tale about a princess who had no 
heart, and could not get one without giving everything she 
had in exchange for it, and that’s how I feel. But how 
dreadful to get the heart, and then find that it’s not wanted ! 
If he cares for me stiU, I don’t mind if I never speak to 
another man again, but if he doesn’t ! ” 

There was a step outside, and Flora looked cautiously 
round the corner of the screen, then advanced, bearing a 
tray. 

“Oh, Mab, you must have thought we had forgotten 
you, you poor thing ! ” she murmured, in subdued tones. 
“ But you were fast asleep when I looked into your 
room, and we thought it would be kinder not to wake 
you. We were all in the mess-room verandah to wel- 
come General Cranstoun and the officers of the column. 
It was lovely to see them come in ; I did wish you were 
there. And they are all so kind, you can’t think ! As soon as 
ever they heard what we were reduced to, they sent their 
servants for all sorts of private stores, and gave us every- 
thing they could think of that we should like. Look! 
here’s a cup of tea — strong tea — for you, with milk in it, 
and I have made you some sandwiches of potted meat. 
Isn’t it good of them? And they say such nice things 
about the way we have stood the siege, and they are so 
interested in the boy, and they admire your brother and 
Mrs North so much. It’s delightful to hear them.” 


308 


THE WARDEN OE THE MARCHES. 


“ But what has happened to the enemy ? ” asked Mabel. 

“ Oh, most of them have surrendered, but Bahram Eian 
and a body of horse escaped, and got safely to Dera Gul. 
Major North just succeeded in saving the Amir, and he’s 
in the fort now. Part of the column has gone on to keep 
an eye on Dera Gul, but the rest will camp here for to-night. 
Some of the officers are coming in after dinner — doesn’t it 
sound funny to say that again ? You will come and talk to 
them, won’t you 1 ” 

“ I’ll just come and see them — ^it would seem rude not to 
go near them after all they have done for us — but I can’t 
leave him for long. Flora ! ” suddenly, “ do you see anything 
different in me 1 ” 

“ You are dreadfully pale and tired, and your dress looks 
as if you had put it on in a hurry, and your hair isn’t very 
nicely done,” said Flora hesitatingly. “ Is that what you 
mean 1 ” 

“No — not quite. If — ^if you were a man, should you 
stiU think of me as Queen Mab 1 ” 

Flora hesitated still, then suddenly flew at Mabel, and 
kissed her with great vehemence. “ What does it signify 1 ” 
she demanded. “ I shall love you just as well, and so will 
and lots of people will love you a great deal more. 
You’re just as lovely, really, as ever you were.” 

“ Then there is something,” cried Mabel. “ What is it 1 ” 

“I — I don’t know, exactly. It’s something gone. I 
have noticed it going, since — I think since Mr Anstruther 
came back from looking for your brother. It was a sort of 
assurance — I can’t think of the proper word — as if you 
knew that every one admired you, and you had a right to 
their services. Yes, that was it. It took every one captive, 
you know, Mab.” 

“ And now ? ” asked Mabel, in a low voice. 

“Now? Oh, it makes me miserable to see you. You 
look as if you wanted people to be kind to you, poor darling.” 

“ Only one person,” whispered Mabel. “ Do you think 
he will?” 

“ As if you doubted him ! Fraud ! If he isn’t. I’ll give 
Fred up, and come and live with you in a hermitage. 
There ! ” 

“ Then I don’t mind. I have lost my kingdom, and found 
a heart.” 


CHAPTEB XXiy. 

WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 

“ Dick, I want to speak to you. I’m sure there’s some- 
thing wrong.” 

“There’ll be something wrong with you, if you rush up 
the steps at that rate, after being out all morning. You 
haven’t walked back, I hope 1 ” 

“No, of course not. I had a doolie. But it’s ready 
important, Dick.” 

“I dare say it is, but I won’t listen to a single word 
until you lie down in that chair and let me fan you. Now 
let us hear about it. You went to the Refugees’ Camp as 
usual, and doctored all and sundry ? ” 

It was not in the confined limits of the Memsahibs’ court- 
yard that this conversation took place, for since the arrival 
of the relieving column the fort had been practically deserted, 
owing to its insanitary condition. As the town had also 
been left by the enemy in an undesirable state, most of the 
rightful inhabitants were under canvas for the present. 
Quarters had been found, however, in the large Sarai for 
a good many of the Europeans, who led a picnic existence 
in the bare mud rooms, cheered by such remnants of their 
household goods as they had been able to save, until the 
neighbourhood should quiet down, so as to allow them to 
return to their homes. Bahram Khan was holding out 
obstinately at Dera Gul, where he appeared to hold in deep 
contempt the devastation wrought by the besiegers’ moun- 
tain-guns. They had battered his walls to pieces, but he 
and his garrison retired to shelters underground, whence 
they emerged on more than one occasion to frustrate, with 
considerable loss to the attacking party, attempts to carry 
the place by assault. Meanwhile, his followers’ wives and 
children, who were not admitted into the fortress, had 
thrown themselves quite happily on the hands of the 


310 


THE WAEDBN OF THE MARCHES. 


besiegers, in the calm confidence that this course would 
ensure their being provided with food, lodging, and medical 
attendance free of cost. To have despatched them, in their 
present unprotected condition, to any distance from the 
British lines would merely have led to their being killed or 
enslaved by the tribes, and after much discussion they were 
gathered into a special camp, under the charge of an officer 
detailed for the duty, which he cursed daily. Here they 
were looked after in company with the native women and 
children who had survived the siege, and such of the towns- 
people as now began to reappear from mysterious hiding- 
places or cities of refuge. The care of their health was 
entrusted to Georgia, and every morning she visited the 
camp and prescribed for any patients that might be awaiting 
her. It was from one of these visits that she had just 
returned. 

“ I was making a surprise inspection of the huts, Dick — 
it^s necessary every few days, you know — and I came to 
one where a number of women who have no children are 
quartered together. They were not expecting me, and 
they were just sitting or standing about. One of them 
was Jehanara.” 

“My word!” Dick sprang to his feet. “Are you 
certain, Georgie?” 

“ Quite. I never forget a face, you know, and hers is a 
remarkable one.” 

“ And what did you do 1 ” 

“I pretended not to have recognised her, and our eyes 
did not meet, so I don’t think she could have seen that I 
knew her. I finished the inspection, and then, when I was 
reporting to Major Atkinson, I asked him to arrest her at 
once, as I was sure she was there as a spy.” 

“ And had she got away in the meantime ” 

“Oh dear, no! When I had made Major Atkinson 
understand which woman I meant, he laughed at me, and 
said that she was certainly a spy — a spy of our own ; and 
she had a pass signed by the General to allow her to leave 
the camp when she liked.” 

“ Somebody is being made a nice fool of.” 

“ That’s what I thought. If she has come to the General, 
and offered to betray the fortress to him — that door, you 
know — and it’s all a trap ! He doesn’t know her as we do. 


WHA.T ZBYNAB SAW. 


311 


I thought of going to him at once, but then it struck me 
that he might laugh at me as Major Atkinson did, so I 
came back to tell you as fast as I could.” 

“You thought he might be like Burgrave, and dislike 
ladies’ interfering in politics ? Well, I suppose I must go 
myself, and fish for snubs. What I do adi^e in aU these 
big chaps is their deep-rooted distrust of the man on the 
spot. I wonder they don’t order us all out of the district 
before they’ll deign to set foot in it.” 

Before very long Dick was received by General Cranstoun 
in the seclusion of his tent. To his observant eye, the 
General’s face wore a slightly expectant, not to say conscious 
expression, and he went straight to the business in hand. 

“ I should be glad, sir, if you would authorise the arrest 
of an East Indian woman who calls herself Joanna Warren 
or Jehanara. She is a secret agent of Bahram Khan’s, and 
my wife found her secreted in the Kefugees’ Camp this 
morning.” 

“There is no such person in the camp,” was the terse 
reply. 

“What! has she got away already?” cried Dick. 
“ Excuse me, but this may be a serious matter. Did she 
know that she was recognised ? ” 

“I believe not. I understand that when she heard it 
was Mrs North’s habit to visit the camp, she considered it 
unwise to remain there longer.” 

“I wish to goodness I knew whether that was aU,” 
muttered Dick. “Is there any hope of getting hold of 
her still ? ” 

“ I do not know. The matter does not appear to me to 
lie in your province. Major North, and I am not prepared 
to offer you any assistance.” 

“Perhaps you are not aware, sir, that the woman in 
question is Bahram Khan’s most trusted counsellor ? It is 
generally understood that all our recent misfortunes are 
attributable to her influence, and I know personally that 
she has done an immense amount of harm.” 

“ Perhaps you are not aware that the unfortunate woman 
of whom you are speaking has been for years most cruelly 
ill-used by Bahram Khan, and has vowed vengeance upon 
him in consequence ? But I am not at liberty to say more 
upon the subject.” 


312 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ No ! ” cried Dick, with sudden enlightenment, “ because 
she made you promise to say nothing to me before she 
would utter a word. She told you that I was brutally un- 
sympathetic, and had insulted her in her misfortunes, and 
that I forbade my wife to receive her ? ” 

“These are facts of which I should scarcely expect you 
to be proud. Major North.” Still, the General looked un- 
comfortable. 

“ I am prouder of them than I should be of being taken 
in by the most cunning Jezebel in India. The woman 
hasn’t a grain of truth in her composition.” 

“ I have been considered a good judge of character,” said 
General Cranstoun severely, “ and I would stake my life on 
Miss Warren’s truthfulness. She has told me something of 
her history, and her manner left on my mind the most 
extraordinary impression of impotent fury thirsting for 
revenge. No acting could have produced the effect.” 

“ And so you are going to stake your life on her truth- 
fulness? and the lives of her Majesty’s troops? I see it 
aU ! ” cried Dick, with growing excitement. “ You are to 
be at the north-east corner of the Dera Gul rock with a 
body of picked men at a certain time, when she will 
open a door leading into the subterranean passages. Guided 
by her, you will make your way up with your detachment 
to the gate opening on the zigzag path, and hold it until the 
rest of your force comes up. Then the fortress is in your 
hands.” 

“ Why — how in the world did you know this ? ” 

“ I am acquainted with the lady, you see.” 

“But the door — how did you hear about that?” 

“ I have seen it. When the place was empty, before it 
was restored to Bahram Khan, I explored it thoroughly.” 

“ And you never told me of the existence of the door ? I 
should have imagined that the interests of the public service 
would have prevailed over any slight personal jealousy ” 

“ I didn’t mention it,” said Dick, “ because the door is a 
portion of the solid rock, and can only be opened from with- 
in. It is lifted by a complicated arrangement of weights 
and pulleys, and a dozen women couldn’t make it stir. I 
should say it needed ten men at least.” 

The General’s brow gathered blackness. “ Your informa- 
tion would have been more valuable had it come earlier,” 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 


313 


he said. “ In the circumstances, I do not feel justified in 
abandoning an excellent opportunity of ending this revolt, 
merely in view of your suspicions.” 

“They are certainties. Say that you and your picked 
men are trapped in the cave — the door works from above. 
The only way out is up a narrow staircase, which only one 
man can climb at a time, but there are holes high up 
through which you could be shot down in dozens. Once 
inside, Bahram EJian has you safe — to use as a hostage, if 
he likes.” 

“ I should not feel justified in abandoning the attempt,” 
repeated the General, “ but,” he added, with a degree less of 
severity, “if you can suggest any precautions that might 
render success more certain, I shall be glad to consider 
them.” 

“ There are to be no lights, I suppose ? Then I would 
let every man except those in the front rank carry a block 
of stone. We can get them out of the ruins not far off, and 
if they are piled up at the sides of the doorway — I’ll show 
the men how to do it — the door can’t come right down, at 
any rate. Then, Jehanara has arranged with you that the 
rest of the force shall advance up the zigzag path at a 
signal from the gate? The enemy’s fire commands every 
foot of the way, and we can’t shell them to any purpose at 
night. But if, instead of climbing up on that side, our 
main body was making a determined assault with scaling- 
ladders upon the opposite side of the fortress, where the 
walls come down to the level, that would distract the 
attention of the garrison if you found it necessary to retire 
from the cave. My idea -is that as soon as you are well 
inside, the door will go down, and you will be summoned 
to surrender. But the door will stick, and you wiU be able 
to retire in good order, and form outside. Then, even if 
the attack did not come off quite at the same moment, you 
would be prepared to resist the garrison if they charged, 
and be sheltered against their fire from above. And the 
best part of the plan,” added Dick cunningly, “ is that there 
is no need to break faith with Jehanara. If she means well 
by you, everything will go off just as you arranged, and her 
feelings will not be hurt by the knowledge of my base 
suspicions.” 

“ Major North,” said the General, holding out his hand, 


314 


THE WAKDKN OF THE MARCHES. 


“I have done you an injustice. The arrangements you 
suggest seem to obviate all risk, and I shall be glad if you 
will accompany me, in order to direct the men who will 
carry the stones. The details of the main attack I will 
arrange immediately.” 

“ Then when was the attempt to be made, sir 1 ” 

“ To-night, of course. Is to be made, if you please.” 

“ That was a pretty close shave ! ” muttered Dick to 
himself, when he was safely outside. 

And thus it came to pass that there was yet another 
night in which Georgia and Flora, unable to sleep, sat 
together in one of the bleak rooms of the Sarai, and held 
each other’s hands in an agony of fear and anxiety, while 
Mabel stole in at intervals from her watch beside Fitz to 
ask whether there was any news yet. Over and over again 
the anxious watchers persuaded themselves that they could 
hear the sound of firing echoed across the miles of desert 
which separated them from Dera Gul, and on each occasion 
they assured one another that the idea was absurd. Mrs 
Hardy came in several times to scold them for sitting up, 
twice spoiling the effect of her rebukes by administering hot 
coffee as a corrective, but she knew as well as they did that 
they could not bring themselves to face the solitude of their 
own rooms. At last, just as day was breaking, a messenger 
came, from the signal officer at the camp to say that flash- 
signals of some sort were visible to the eastward, but the mists 
of the morning made it impossible to read them properly. 
There was still an hour or so more of weary waiting, and 
then Dick and Haycraft rode in together, the latter with 
his arm in a sling. He had been knocked from one of the 
scaling-ladders by a stone hurled at him, and the bone was 
broken, but otherwise he was only bruised. And what did 
even a broken arm signify, when there was victory at last 1 

“It was just as we thought,” Dick told Georgia. “As 
soon as we were inside the cave, I saw the door begin to 
come down — shutting out the stars, don’t you know ? and a 
voice called out to us to surrender. But just when the 
door ought to have descended with a crash, it made a 
grating noise instead, and stuck fast, for the stones were 
piled about four feet high on each side. The enemy saw 
the dodge in a moment, and opened fire through the holes 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 


315 


up above, but as we were aU in the dark, it was a pretty 
wild affair. Two or three were wounded, and from the 
back of the cave came an awful scream — a woman^s scream. 
It was that wretched Jehanara, who had tried to escape up 
the staircase, and was shot down by mistake. So now we 
shall never know — or rather, the General won’t — whether 
she was deceived herself, or deceiving us. Then, as we got 
out of the place, we heard the sound of the attack on the 
other side, and we raced round to take part in it. Our 
men were already in at the breach the shells have made, 
and by the time we got up they were fighting hand to hand 
inside. We pressed the garrison back from point to point, 
until we came to the zenana. It seems that Bahram Khan 
had talked big about killing all his women before the end 
came, but his plucky old mother didn’t quite see it. She 
and the rest barricaded themselves in, aU except Bahram 
Khan’s wife Zeynab, and kept him out. The fellow made 
a great fuss about breaking down the barricade, and went 
off to find a hammer or pickaxe or something to do it with, 
but we got there first. The men he had left fought to the 
last in front of the barricade, and behind it the old Begum 
held out stoutly until I came up, when she surrendered at 
discretion. Then we found out from one of our wounded 
that Bahram Khan and his wife had got away through the 
cave, with either two or three of his men, so that he is still 
at large, though the place is in our hands. Of course the 
regiment is scouring the country for him, and the tribes are 
all thirsting for the reward that will be offered, but it is a 
horrid bother.” 

“Zeynab will scarcely be the help to him that Jehanara 
would have been,” said Georgia. 

“ No, but I don’t like his being loose. I shall get them 
to post a sentry at the gate here, as well as the Sikh at 
Burgrave’s door, and none of you must go outside without 
an escort. Mab mustn’t try any more of her adventurous 
rides.” 

“Why, Dick, there’s no one for her to ride with at 
present.” 

“No more there is, happily. WeU, I shall be thankful 
if her devotion to Anstruther lasts long enough to keep her 
between walls just now. Bahram Khan driven desperate 
would be an ugly customer to meet out in the open.” 


316 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


It was a source of considerable relief to Dick to learn 
that at this particular time Mabel was less likely than ever 
to quit her charge. Two or three days before, she had 
astonished Dr Tighe by demanding to be allowed to assist 
in dressing the patient’s burns. The doctor, who had con- 
trived, with what he regarded as almost superhuman cun- 
ning, always to accomplish this process at a time when she 
was not on duty, was much perplexed by the request. 

“ Trust me,” he urged ; “ I’ll let you help as soon as it’s 
desirable.” 

Mabel shook her head. “You don’t understand,” she 
said. “I want to know the worst while he is still un- 
conscious. I think I can trust myself not to make any 
sign, but I am not sure, and if it is very dreadful — oh, 
it would break my heart if he thought I s^ank from him 
because of his scars ! ” 

“But, my dear young lady, that’s all the more reason 
for waiting. The wounds will be far less painful to look 
at when they are a little more healed.” 

“ That’s just it. If I see them now, at their worst, I 
can’t be horrified afterwards. I want to be able to judge 
of the improvement, so that I may cheer him if he thinks 
he is not getting on.” 

Dr Tighe muttered fiercely to himself, but yielded at 
last, and allowed Mabel to act as his assistant at the next 
dressing. She thought she had schooled herself to bear 
the worst, but in spite of all her resolutions she shrank and 
shivered involuntarily when she realised the frightful change 
in the dark handsome face she had always secretly admired. 
Dr Tighe, going about his work with swift, practised fingers, 
said nothing, and pretended not to notice the drops of 
water which splashed upon him from the basin she 
held. 

“ Will he — can he ever look at all as he did 1 ” she asked 
in a whisper at last. 

“If things turn out as I hope, he will look no worse 
than a man who is badly marked with smallpox. There 
will be two or three ugly seams — here, and here” — he 
indicated the precise spots lightly with a finger-tip — “ but 
the hair will help to cover them when it grows again, and 
if the mouth is much disfigured — why, you must lay your 
commands upon the patient to grow a beard.” 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 317 

Mabel was crying. “ Oh, it is too dreadful, too dreadful ! ” 
she sobbed. 

“ Then you had better leave the sick-room to me before 
he recovers consciousness. There’s no need to make things 
worse for him by raising false hopes. Either stick to him, 
disfigurements and all, or don’t let him know that he ever 
had the chance of marrying you.” 

“ It’s not for myself ; it’s for him ! ” flashed forth Mabel. 
“Stick to him? of course I shall. He himself is not 
changed. But I can’t be too thankful that I have seen 
him like this. At least I know the worst.” 

Again the doctor was puzzled. Was she forcing herself 
to keep faith, for shame or pity’s sake, or was she really in 
love still ? He did not attempt to argue the matter with 
her, and nothing more was said on the subject for a day or 
two. Then the doctor stopped Mabel one morning at the 
door of the sick-room. 

“One moment, Miss North. Has the patient ever ex- 
hibited any signs of consciousness in your presence — tried 
to speak, or anything of the sort ? ” 

“ Never,” said Mabel, in surprise. “ I should have told 
you if he had.” 

“ I didn’t know whether you might be luxuriating in the 
sentimental satisfaction of feeling that you were the only 
person he recognised. You needn’t be angry; from your 
point of view it would be very natural. Well, I can’t make 
it out, then.” 

“ But has he spoken again — are there any signs ? ” 

“ Not a word. But I can’t help thinking that there may 
be a kind of semi-consciousness about him — ability to dis- 
tinguish light from darkness, or a loud noise from silence, 
perhaps — and I am almost certain that he knows when you 
are there. There are minute variations of temperature and 
pulse which correspond day after day, marking the differ- 
ence between your presence and absence. It’s a queer 
thing.” 

“ And you think he will soon be quite conscious ? Oh, 
doctor ! ” and this hope it was that kept Mabel so closely 
within the walls of the Sarai as to satisfy even Dick. But 
no further change in the patient’s condition seemed to 
reward her eager watchfulness. Dr Tighe said nothing 
more, and Mabel was afraid to ask questions. Any good 


318 


THE WABDEN OF THE MAECHES. 


news he would surely tell her, and she did not want to hear 
any that was bad. After another three days, however, he 
stopped her again outside the sick-room. 

“ Miss North, I’m going to give that poor fellow away. 
I won’t presume to inquire into your feelings towards hini, 
but unless you can take him, scarred as he will be, without 
a quahn, you had better keep away from him in future. 
He is conscious, but he guesses how it is with him, and he 
means to tire you out. He has settled in his own mind 
that if he shows no gratitude for your nursing, and no 
interest in your presence, you will leave him alone, so that 
he won’t be tempted to take advantage of your pity for 
him. So he lies there like a log, and the self-repression 
is bad for him. I would be glad to see you end it one way 
or another.” 

“ Do you mean that he can speak, and see, and hear, but 
pretends he can’t 1 ” demanded Mabel. 

“ No, no. , He can’t see — ^because of the bandage over 
his eyes, if for no other reason — and he can’t speak in- 
telligibly. But he can hear, and he can answer questions 
by moving his right hand for yes, and his left for no. 
That’s how I found it all out.” 

“ And he has pretended not to be able to hear a sound ! 
Why, I might have said anything to him — anything! 
Happily I haven’t,” catching the doctor’s eye, “ for Colonel 
Slaney told me so particularly not to excite him. But 
what do you want me to dol” 

“To please yourself. Either make him understand that 
you mean to stick to him, or simply stay away. It’ll be 
better for him.” 

“ Which have you told him you expect I shall do ? ” asked 
Mabel, turning upon him. The doctor looked guilty. 

“ I’d have had the greatest pleasure in preparing the poor 
fellow’s mind, if I’d known,” he confessed ; “ but for the life 
of me I couldn’t decide which you’d be likely to do.” 

“ Thanks for your high opinion of me,” said Mabel, en- 
tering the room with a short laugh. “Perhaps you will 
kindly notice that I am putting an end to your doubts at 
this moment.” 

Such was the confused condition of Dr Tighe’s mind that 
he did not at first realise the bearing of this sentence. 
Indeed, it was not until he was busy in his improvised 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 


319 


surgery half-an-hour later that he perceived its full import, 
and made the bottles ring again with the shout of joy 
which greeted his discovery. As for Mabel, she sat down 
in her usual place beside the bed, and bent over the 
patient. 

“Fitz,” she said very distinctly, “I want to speak to 
you. You needn’t pretend you can’t hear, for I know Dr 
Tighe has been talking to you. Eaise your right hand 
when you mean yes, and your left when you mean no.” 

No movement of any kind followed, but Mabel was not 
to be daunted. 

“ I understand,” she went on, “ that you don’t like me to 
be here, and would rather I left off helping to nurse you ? ” 

This time the right hand was unmistakably raised an inch 
or so. 

“ I have no right to offer any objection,” resumed Mabel, 
“ but I don’t think you need have left Dr Tighe to teU me 
about it. I suppose I ought to have known that I had 
treated you too badly for you ever to care for me again.” 

The left hand was shaken two or three times with 
pathetic vehemence. 

“Then some one has told you,” indignantly, “how old 
and wretched I am beginning to look. Even Flora con- 
fesses it — I made her tell me — but she said she loved me 
just the same. I said I shouldn’t mind it, if it didn’t 
prevent my friends caring for me — and there were one or 
two to whom I felt sure it would make no difference. I 

never thought that you No, you are not to touch that 

bandage,” intercepting a feeble movement of one hand 
towards the eyes. “Do you want to be blind? But it’s 
better as it is,” with a heavy sigh — “ better that we should 
part now. I mean, I couldn’t bear you to think me ugly.” 

Again the left hand was shaken vehemently. 

“Do you mean that it isn’t that? Then there’s only 
one other thing it can possibly be. You don’t believe I 
can be faithful, though you can ; and you haven’t realised 
that it’s just this accident of yours which removes my 
objection to you. You know I said you would look so 
dreadfully young compared with me. Well, no one can 
say that now. You will look like a battered veteran, and 
though I have gone off so dreadfully, I shall look quite 
youthful beside you. Do you understand ? ” 


320 


THE WAKDEH OF THE MARCHES. 


The right hand was lifted somewhat doubtfully. 

“ I’m glad of that. Because, you see, I have told people 
that we are engaged, and it would be such a very uncom- 
fortable thing if I had to contradict it. Now listen. Flora 
and I have agreed that I am not Queen Mab any longer, 
but if you agree it will be very rude.” Up came the left 
hand with alacrity. “ That’s right ; then I am still Queen 
Mab to you, and I lay my commands on you that this sort 
of thing is not to happen again. I mean to help nurse you, 
whether you like it or not, and you wiU get well much 
sooner if you make up your mind to like it. But even if 
you don’t, I won’t give you up.” 

Both hands were raised, with an imploring gesture, and 
Mabel took them in her own, and hid her face in them. 

“ Because I love you, Fitz. You couldn’t have the heart 
to send me away after that, could you 1 Don’t try to talk ; 
I understand.” 

Returning to her watch that evening, Mabel met the 
Commissioner, who stopped to inquire after Fitz. 

“ He is conscious ; he knows me,” she answered joyfully, 
adding, after a moment’s hesitation, “ I think perhaps you 
will like to know that it is all right between us now.” 

“ I am very glad to hear it. I hope from my heart that 
you may be absolutely happy. As for Anstruther,” added 
Mr Burgrave, in his old courtly way, “there can be no 
question as to his happiness.” 

“We shall always feel that we owe it very much to you,” 
faltered Mabel. 

“It is extremely kind of you to say so. I am leaving 
early to-morrow, and that is a pleasant assurance to carry 
with me. I hoped I should meet you this evening, as I 
am dining at your brother’s, but I see you have other 
duties.” 

“I am so sorry — I didn’t understand — how stupid of 
me ! ” cried Mabel. “ Are you leaving the frontier alto- 
gether 'i ” 

“ I am returning in the first instance to Bab-us-Sahel, to 
take up my regular duties again. My visit to the frontier 
has extended over a preposterous length of time, owing first 
to my accident and then to the rising, and I fear it has 
thrown the machinery of government a good deal out of 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 


321 


gear. Personally, however, I cannot bring myself to regret 
it. I have enjoyed many important experiences, for wMch 
I did not bargain when I set out.” 

Mabel’s eyes fell before the kindly look in his. “Can 
you ever forgive me ? ” she murmured. 

“ I have nothing to forgive. The fault was mine.” He 
bowed over the hand she held out to him. “ The Queen 
can do no wrong.” 

They parted, and Mr Burgrave went on to the Norths’ 
quarters, two small square rooms without a door, and pos- 
sessing only one small window apiece, high up in the back 
wall. One side was open to the courtyard of the Sarai, and 
at night was somewhat inadequately closed by means of 
curtains and Venetian blinds. The dinner-table had been 
laid with the help of contributions from the Grahams and 
the Hardys, and the Commissioner pretended politely not to 
recognise his own reading-lamp, the only large lamp belong- 
ing to the community that had escaped the chances of war 
and earthquake. Flora, whose father was dining with the 
General, occupied Mabel’s vacant place, and did her part in 
helping to arrange the impromptu drawing-room at the 
back of the room. There were screens and a brazier, to 
mitigate the coldness of the evening air, and for furniture 
the camp-chairs which had played so many parts in the 
economy of the siege. Dick had received strict injunctions 
to offer his guest a cigar, and Georgia and Flora were pre- 
pared to efface themselves so far as to retire into the bed- 
room should Mr Bui-grave’s principles forbid him to smoke 
in the presence of ladies, but their self-sacrifice was not 
needed. No sooner were the chairs arranged than the 
Commissioner, who had been helping to carry them behind 
the screen, prepared to take his leave. 

“ I will ask you to excuse me early,” he said to Georgia, 
“for I have a good deal of writing to do, and Mr Beltring 
has been good enough to offer to take poor Beardmore’s 
place for this evening.” 

He hesitated for a moment, turned to go, and then came 
back again. 

“ I think perhaps I had better explain something that 
might perplex you in the future,” he said, speaking to 
Dick, but including Georgia. “It has to do with the 
frontier question.” 


X 


322 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ I thought we had come to an agreement on that sub- 
ject,” said Dick, with some apprehension. 

“Pardon me, I agreed to withdraw my report in defer- 
ence to your representations, but I still think your principles 
unsound — radically unsound.” 

The rest gazed at him in alarm, and he went on. “ Your 
custom of intervening in trans-frontier disputes, and prac- 
tically exercising authority outside our own borders, is 
diametrically opposed to the traditional policy of the 
Government. I am bound to admit that it seems to suc- 
ceed in your case, but it needs exceptional men to carry it 
out. You, Major, especially with Mrs North to assist you ” 
— he bowed to Georgia — “ are unquestionably a power to 
be reckoned with all along this frontier, but what would 
befall the ordinary civil servant who might be sent to suc- 
ceed you ? ” 

“ That’s just it,” said Dick. “ You mustn’t send us the 
common or garden office-wallah up here. Let me pick the 
right man — whether he’s a wild rattlepate like Anstruther, 
or a steady plodding chap like Beltring — and give him the 
right rough-and-tumble sort of training, till he knows the 
tribes like a brother, and there’s your exceptional man ready 
when you want him. Only he must be the right sort to 
begin with, and he must be caught young.” 

“ A possible clue to my own lack of success up here ! ” 
mused the Commissioner. “ Still, I fear you will scarcely 
find that any Government will look with favour upon a system 
that would practically make the frontier a close preserve for 
you and your pupils. But this is what I wished to say. 
I can’t conscientiously work with you on your lines, though 
I have promised not to oppose you, and therefore I am re- 
commending the severance of the frontier districts from 
those of Khemistan proper, and their erection into a 
separate agency under an officer answerable directly to the 
Viceroy. Don’t think I have tried to shift the responsi- 
bility from my own shoulders. It seemed that while we 
could not well work together, we might work side by side. 
I have done the best I can.” 

He went out precipitately, one of the servants hastening 
to light him to his own quarters, thus restoring the lamp. 
Those left behind looked at each other. 

“ Poor old chap ! ” said Dick. “ It’s about the worst 


WHAT ZETNAB SAW. 


323 


thing he could have done for himself, and it’s not very much 
good to us. The Great Great One can scarcely be expected 
to welcome such a slap in the face as that. His own nomi- 
nee, sent to carry out his very own policy, recommending 
its reversal, not because his views have changed, but simply 
because facts are against him ! ” 

They sat talking round the brazier in the dusk for some 
time, until there was a footstep outside, and Beltring 
pushed aside the screen and entered. He had a paper 
in his hand. 

“ Why, you are all in the dark, Mrs North ! ” he said. 
“ Never mind, I can tell you the great news. The Com- 
missioner has just had a telegram that the rumour of the 
Viceroy’s resignation is true. Lord Torvalvin is coming 
out instead.” 

“ Torvalvin ! ” cried Dick. “ Then the frontier’s safe.” 

“ And you will be Warden of the Marches stiU,” said 
Flora. 

“ That seems to make me out a sort of Vicar of Bray,” 
grumbled Dick. 

“ It’s only Flora’s poetical way of speaking,” said Georgia. 
“I’m sure it sounds much better to talk of keeping the 
marches than of running the frontier.” 

“ Yes,” said Flora. “ I was thinking of the inscription 
in Sir Walter Scott’s hall at Abbotsford, about the ‘ men 
wha keepit the marchys in the old tyme for the Kynge. 
Trewe men war they in their tyme, and in their defence 
God them defendyt.’ ” 

“ I like that,” said Georgia softly. 

“ Well,” said Dick, “ it’s all very well for me, but Tor- 
valvin’s coming out will be a fearful blow for Burgrave. I 
suppose he wifi feel bound to resign, for I certainly don’t 
see how they can work together. Did he seem much cut 
up. Beltring 1” 

“He didn’t show it, sir. Only said he thought you 
would like to see the telegram. Why, his lamp has gone 
out ! ” Beltring had reached the threshold on his way back. 
“ Good heavens ! what’s that ? ” 

A wild uproar was arising from the camp, which stretched 
into the desert beyond the Sarai, and alternate cries of 
“ Din ! Din ! ” and “ Ghazis ! ” were discernible. 

“4 Ghazi raid!” cried Dick, springing for his sword. 


324 


THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


“ Georgie, take the boy and Rahah, and barricade yourself 
in with Mab and Miss Graham. You have two revolvers, 
and I’ll send help as soon as possible. Take the chairs. 
They’ll help you to build up a corner.” 

Rahah ran out with the baby, and Dick and Beltring 
saw the ladies safely to the door of the sick-room, then rushed 
to the gateway, where they stumbled over the dead body of 
the sentry. The tumult in the camp still continued, shouts 
and yells coming from several directions mingled with the 
sound of shots, but in each case all was quiet again before 
they arrived at the point of interest. Such of the troops 
as were new to the frontier looked somewhat ashamed when 
they realised that the attack which had ' thrown the camp 
into confusion was the work of only four men, but the more 
experienced knew that four desperate fanatics, armed to 
the teeth, and determined to kill until they themselves 
were killed, were by no means foes to be despised. The 
one who had fought most obstinately wore a green turban, 
and Dick nodded grimly as he caught sight of his face. 

“ Bahram Klian ! I thought so,” he said. “ But I’m 
afraid there’s been the devil’s own work done in the Sarai. 
Bring torches.” 

A number of officers ran back with him to the gateway, 
where the sentry was found to have been dexterously 
strangled from behind. Entering the courtyard, they turned 
towards the Commissioner’s quarters, which were still in 
darkness. Suddenly Dick’s foot slipped. 

“ Another body here ! ” he said, and some one brought 
forward a torch. To their astonishment, it was a woman 
who lay before them, dressed in rich native garments, which, 
with the coarse chadar covering her face, were soaked with 
blood. She had been stabbed in the breast, but was still 
breathing heavily. Sending a messenger for Dr Tighe, they 
went on, in growing dread as to what they might find. Their 
fears were justified. On the verandah lay the Sikh sentry, 
stabbed in the back, and on the floor of his office was the 
body of the Commissioner, hacked and disfigured almost 
beyond recognition with a hundred wounds. It did not 
need the verdict of Dr Tighe to assure the men who stood 
round that life was extinct. 

“What can have been the reason 1 Wliy the Com- 
missioner and not North 1 ” were the questions that passed 



“STHETCIIING OUT IIIS HAND FOK THE I’ISTOI 


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WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 325 

from mouth to mouth, as Dick tore down a curtain and laid 
it reverently over the body, with the help of Dr Tighe. 

“ Perhaps the woman can tell us something. She seems 
conscious now,” said some one, but when the doctor knelt 
down beside her she pulled her veil feebly over her face, 
moaning out a name the while. 

“ She won’t let me touch her. She’s a pardah nishiny” he 
said, rising. “ It’s the doctor lady she’s asking for, Major.” 

Dick went himself to fetch his wife, and the men stood 
aside a little as Georgia tried to stanch the gaping wound, 
which was draining the poor creature’s life away. The 
woman herself laughed weakly. 

“ It matters not, O doctor lady. I shall follow my lord.” 

“ You are little Zeynab ? ” asked Georgia gently, looking 
into the drawn face. 

“ I am that luckless one, O doctor lady, and I die thus 
for the sake of the kindness thou didst show me many years 
ago.” 

“ Don’t talk now,” ‘said Georgia. “ TeU me afterwards.” 

“Nay, I must speak now, for soon it will be too late. 
Six days we have been hiding here and there, O doctor 
lady, my lord and his three servants and I, and this evening 
we were in the shadow of the oleanders beside the gate. 
Thence we saw the Kumpsioner Sahib return to his house 
with a light carried before him, and presently there came 
out a young sahib with a chit in his hand, and crossed the 
courtyard. Then my lord said, ‘ It is time,’ and two of his 
followers slew the guard at the gate, while he and the third 
flung themselves like tigers upon the accursed Sikh on the 
verandah, and killed him without a cry. I, who had crept 
after them, saw the Kumpsioner Sahib sitting at a table 
with the light in front of him, and a pistol at his right 
hand — for truly he feared my lord, even in his own house — 
and I saw also that my lord had crept in like a cat, and 
was stretching out his hand over his shoulder for the pistol. 
But as he took away the pistol, the Kumpsioner Sahib saw 
his hand, and turned round and sprang up. Then one of 
the other men blew at the lamp to put it out, and the light 
burned low. And my lord laughed and said in the Persian 
tongue, ‘We meet at last, O Barkaraf Sahib. Thou didst 
indeed believe that victory was thine, but if Nath Sahib’s 
sister is not for me, neither is she for thee. Death is thy 


326 


THE WAKDEN OF THE MARCHES. 


bride/ At first it seemed to me that the Kumpsioner Sahib 
was about to speak, but he stood up straight with his arms 
folded, and said nothing, until my lord added divers other 
taunts, when he said, ‘ Take not the name of that lady upon 
thy lips, O low-born one. Dost thou fear to strike me, who 
am here unarmed, that thou speakest evil of a woman who 
is absent?’ Then my lord struck him with his dagger, 
and the lamp went out, and they all fell upon him, and 
stabbed him many times. And coming out, my lord found 
me, and said, ‘ Go through the midst of the Sarai, and cry 
out aloud for the doctor lady, that she may come out and 
we may slay her and her son, and it may be the accursed 
Nath Sahib himself also.’ But I would not, O doctor lady, 
and therefore it was that my lord stabbed me, and that I 
die now at his hand.” With a sudden convulsive move- 
ment, she tore away Georgia’s hand from the wound, and 
struggled to her feet, then staggered and fell. Georgia 
caught her in ’her arms, but the dressing had been dis- 
lodged, and the blood streamed forth again as the dark 
head dropped heavily on her shoulder. 

They buried the Commissioner in the little cemetery at 
Alibad, and for days people went about saying that it was 
the irony of fate that his grave should be next to that of 
General Keeling. It was Georgia who chose the spot, 
however, and she thought otherwise. 

“He would have been a man after my father’s own 
heart, if he had known him,” said Georgia, “though I 
don’t say they wouldn’t have wrangled on theoretical 
questions from morning to night. But when I think that 
with death staring him in the face, he would not say a 
word that might turn their thoughts to Fitz, who was only 
a few feet away, and absolutely helpless, I feel that he was 
one of the bravest men I have ever known.” 

Not all the opinions expressed concerning the dead man 
were so favourable, however. On the evening of his 
funeral two Pathan soldiers from one of the relieving 
regiments met Ismail Bakhsh near the cemetery, and saluted 
him with marked friendliness. 

“ O brother,” they said, “ we have heard that the famous 
general, Sinjaj Kilin Sahib Bahadar, is wont to ride abroad 
upon this border by night. Is this so ? ” 


WHAT ZEYNAB SAW. 


327 


“It .is trae,” returned the old trooper, “and I myself 
have heard him, not once nor twice. And, moreover, what 
these eyes of mine have beheld, it is not wise to relate.” 

“Pray, brother, tell us when these things may be seen 
and heard? We have a great desire to make proof of them 
for ourselves.” 

“Nay,” said Ismail Bakhsh, with a lofty smile, “for that 
ye must wait awhile. It is only when there is trouble on 
the border that the General Sahib rides, and ” — with a wave 
of the hand towards the new-made grave — “ the troubler of 
the border lies there.” . 




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L. C. Page and Company's 
Announcement List 
of New Fiction 

The Kindred of the Wild I A Book of Animal 
Life. By Charles G. D. Roberts, author of « The 
Heart of the Ancient Wood,” “A Sister to Evangeline,” 
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life by Charles Livingston Bull. 

Large 1 2mo, cloth, gilt top $2.00 

Mr. Roberts’s latest work of fiction makes a most interest- 
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The Mystery of Murray Davenport. By 

Robert Neilson Stephens, author of “ Captain Raven- 
shaw,” “ Philip Winwood,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

His latest novel is a new departure for Mr. Stephens, and 
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and absorbing of all Mr. Stephens’s novels. It is certain, at 
any rate, that the hundreds of thousands of his readers will 
look forward with pleasure, as well as some degree of curi- 
osity, to his latest work. 


2 


L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


Barbara Ladd, a novel of early colonial 
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Heart of the Ancient Wood,” “ A Sister to Evangeline,” 
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Library 1 2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

Stephen Holton: a story of life as it is m 
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In “ Stephen Holton ” the author of “ Quincy Adams 
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Abroad with the Jimmies. By Lilian bell, 

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Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, with a portrait frontis- 
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This book, one of Lilian Bell’s best, is the witty account of 
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Hope Loring. By Lilian Bell, author of “The 
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Library 1 2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated , . . $1.50 

The latest and most important novel of this clever writer is 
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LIST OF NEW FICTION 


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The Mate of the Good Ship York. By w. 

Clark Russell, author of “ The Wreck of the Grosvenor,” 
etc., with a frontispiece from a drawing by W. H. Dunton. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top $1.50 

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Asa Holmes or At the Cross=roads. By 

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Large i6mo, cloth, gilt top $1.00 

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The Cloistering of Ursula. By Clinton Scol- 

LARD, author of “A Man-at-Arms,” etc. Illustrated by 
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Library 12 mo, cloth, gilt top $1.50 

It is with much pleasure that the publishers are able to an- 
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secret craft, open hatred and hidden love. A strange cloister- 
ing is that of the charming Ursula, whose adventures the reader 
follows with breathless interest from the time when, all unwit- 
ting, she aids the enemy of her house to escape from the fatal 
banquet, to the time when she finds her claustral refuge in the 
heart of that enemy. 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


4 

The Seigneur de Beaufoy, By Hamilton 

Drummond, author of “ The King’s Pawn,” etc. 

Library 1 2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

These adventures of the proud and powerful Seigneur de 
Beaufoy throw a striking side light on the political and social 
condition of France during the time of Charles VII. and his 
crafty son, Louis XL How Beaufoy ruled his wide domains, 
waned with his neighbors, succored the weak and humbled 
the powerful, opposed priest and abbot, made terms with 
dauphin and king, — all this is set forth with a purity of style 
and a dramatic force that stamp Mr. Drummond as one of the 
leading romancers of the day. 


The Yellow Rose. By Maurus J6kai, author of 
. “ Pretty Michal,” “ The Green Book,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top $1.50 

“ A Sarga Rosza,” “ The Yellow Rose,” has been pro- 
nounced by the great critic Zoltan Beothy to be one of the 
abiding ornaments of the Hungarian national literature. The 
inexhaustible richness and fertility of Jdkai’s inventive imagina- 
tion is so well known to the American public that this story 
scarcely needs further introduction. 


The Prince of the Captivity. By Sydney C. 

Grier, author of “ The Warden of the Marches,” “ A 
Crowned Queen,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top $1.50 

Mr. Grier’s latest novel, like severM of its predecessors, is 
concerned with the interesting field of political intrigue in the 
Balkan states. The remarkable success which Mr. Grier’s 
novels have enjoyed in England makes certain the favorable 
reception on this side of the water of his latest work. 


LIST OF NEW FICTION 


5 


PAGRS COMMONWEALTH SERIES 

Literary growth in America has been of late years as rapid 
as its material and economical progress. The vast size of the 
country, the climatic and moral conditions of its different parts, 
and the separate political and social elements, have all tended 
to create distinct methods of literary expression in various sec- 
tions. In offering from time to time the books in the “ COM- 
MONWEALTH SERIES,” we shall select a novel or story 
descriptive of the methods of thought and life of that particu- 
lar section of the country which each author represents. The 
elegance of paper, press-work, and binding, and the lavish and 
artistic illustrations, as well as the convenient size, add not a 
little to the attractiveness of the volumes. 

Number 5. (Illinois) The Russells in Chi« 

CagO. By Emily Wheaton. Illustrated with full-page 
drawings by F. C. Ransom, and numerous reproductions 
from original photographs. 

Cloth, large i6mo, gilt top $1.25 

This entertaining story is the narrative of the experiences of 
two young people from Boston who take up their residence in 
the wilds by Lake Michigan. The characteristics of life in the 
great Western metropolis, as well as the foibles of the impec- 
cable Eastern critic, are touched with a gentle and amusing 
satire, as kindly as it is observant and keen. 

Even without the omen of success afforded in the previous 
numbers of this popular series, it is safe to predict a most 
favorable reception for this charming story. 


Number 6. (New York) CouHcils of Croesus. 

By Mary Knight Potter, author of “ Love in Art,” etc. 
Cloth, large 1 6mo, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.25 

A clever and vivacious story of life in New York society 
circles. 



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Selections from 

L. C. Page and Company’s 

List of Fiction 


WORKS OF 

ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS 
Captain Ravenshaw ; or, the maid of 

Cheapside. (35th thousand.) A romance of Elizabethan 
London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists. 

Library i2mo, cloth $1.50 

Not since the absorbing adventures of D’Artagnan have we 
had anything so good in the blended vein of romance and 
comedy. The beggar student, the rich goldsmith, the roisterer 
and the rake, the fop and the maid, are all here : foremost 
among them, Captain Ravenshaw himself, soldier of fortune 
and adventurer, who, after escapades of binding interest, 
finally wins a way to fame and to matrimony. The rescue of 
a maid from the designs of an unscrupulous father and rakish 
lord forms the principal and underlying theme, around which 
incidents group themselves with sufficient rapidity to hold one’s 
attention spellbound. 

Philip Winwood. (70th thousand.) A Sketch of 
the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War of 
Independence, embracing events that occurred between and 
during the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London. 
Written by his Enemy in War, Herbert Russell, Lieutenant 
in the Loyalist Forces. Presented anew by Robert Neil- 
SON Stephens. Illustrated by E. W. D. Hamilton. 

Library i2mo, cloth $1.50 

“ One of the most stirring and remarkable romances that have 
been published in a long while, and its episodes, incidents, and 
actions are as interesting and agreeable as they are vivid and 
dramatic.” — Boston Times. 


2 


L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY 


An Enemy to the King. (40th thousand.) From 

the “Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de la 
Tournoire.” Illustrated by H. De M. Young. 

Library i2mo, cloth ^1.50 

An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing 
the adventures of a young French nobleman at the Court of 
Henry III., and on the field with Henry of Navarre. 

“ A stirring tale.” — Detroit Free Press. 

“ A royally strong piece of fiction.” — Boston Ideas. 

“ Interesting from the first to the last page.” — Brooklyn Eagle. 

“ Brilliant as a play ; it is equally brilliant as a romantic novel.” — 
Philadelphia Press. 

The Continental Dragoon : a romance of 

Philipse Manor House in 1778. (42d thousand.) Illus- 
trated by H. C. Edwards. 

Library i2mo, cloth $1.50 

A stirring romance of the Revolution, the scene being laid 
in and around the old Philipse Manor House, near Yonkers, 
which at the time of the story was the central point of the so- 
called “ neutral territory ” between the two armies. 

The Road to Paris: A Story of Adventure. 
(23d thousand.) Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. 

Library 12 mo, cloth $1.50 

An historical romance of the i8th century, being an account 
of the life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite 
ancestry, whose family early settled in the colony of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

A Gentleman Player : his adventures on a 
Secret Mission for Queen Elizabeth. (35th thou- 
sand.) Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 

Library i2mo, cloth $1.50 

“A Gentleman Player” is a romance of the Elizabethan 
period. It relates the story of a young gentleman who, in the 
reign of Elizabeth, falls so low in his fortune that he joins 
Shakespeare’s company of players, and becomes a friend and 
prot^g^ of the great poet. 


LIST OF FICTION 


3 


\ 


WORKS OF 

CHARLES a a ROBERTS 
The Heart of the Ancient Wood. 

Library i2mo, gilt top, decorative cover, illustrated . $1.50 

This book strikes a new note in literature. It is a realistic 
romance of the folk of the forest, — a romance of the alliance 
of peace between a pioneer’s daughter in the depths of the 
ancient wood and the wild beasts who felt her spell and 
became her friends. It is not fanciful, with talking beasts; 
nor is it merely an exquisite idyl of the beasts themselves. It 
is an actual romance in which the animal characters play their 
parts as naturally as do the human. 

The Forge in the Forest. Being the Narrative 

of the Acadian Ranger, Jean de Mer, Siegneur de Briart, 
and how he crossed the Black Abbd, and of his Adventures 
in a Strange Fellowship. Illustrated by Henry Sandham, 
R. C. A. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, deckle-edge paper . $1.50 

A romance of the convulsive period of the struggle between 
the French and English for the possession of North America. 
The story is one of pure love and heroic adventure, and deals 
with that fiery fringe of conflict that waved between Nova 
Scotia and New England. 

A Sister to Evangeline. Being the story of 

Yvonne de Lamourie, and how she went into Exile with the 
Villagers of Grand Prd. 

Library i2mo, cloth, deckle-edge paper, gilt top, 

illustrated $i-So 

This is a romance of the great expulsion of the Acadians 
which Longfellow first immortalized in “ Evangeline.” Swift 
action, fresh atmosphere, wholesome purity, deep passion, 
searching analysis, characterize this strong novel; and the 
tragic theme of the exile is relieved by the charm of the wilful 
demoiselle and the spirit of the courtly seigneur, who bring the 
manners of old France to the Acadian woods. 


4 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY’S 


Works of Charles G. D. Roberts (Continued) 

Earth’s Enigmas. 

Library i2mo, cloth, uncut edges . . . . $1.25 

This is the author’s first volume of stories and the one which 
discovered him as a fiction writer of advanced rank. The 
tales deal chiefly with those elemental problems of the mys- 
teries of life, — pain, the unknown, the strange kinship of man 
and beast in the struggle for existence, — the enigmas which 
occur chiefly to the primitive folk on the backwoods fringe of 
civilization, and they arrest attention for their sincerity, their 
freshness of first-hand knowledge, and their superior craft. 

By the Marshes of Minas. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.25 

This is a volume of romance of love and adventure in that 
picturesque period when Nova Scotia was passing from the 
French to the English regime, of which Professor Roberts is 
the acknowledged celebrant. Each tale is independent of the 
others, but the scenes are similar, and in several of them the 
evil “ Black Abb^,” well known from the author’s previous 
novels, again appears with his savages at his heels — but to be 
thwarted always by woman’s wit or soldier’s courage. 


WORKS OF 

MAURUS JOKAI 

]Vla.nHSSeh. Translated by P. F. Bicknell. With a 
portrait in photogravure of Dr. Jdkai. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative .... $1.50 

An absorbing story of life among a happy and primitive 
people hidden away in far Transylvania, whose peaceful life is 
never disturbed except by the inroads of their turbulent neigh- 
bors. The opening scenes are laid in Rome ; and the view of 
the corrupt, intriguing society there forms a picturesque con- 
trast to the scenes of pastoral simplicity and savage border 
warfare that succeed. 


LIST OF FICTION 


5 


Works of Maurus Jdkai (Continued) 

The Baron’s Sons. Translated by P. F. Bicknell. 
With a portrait in photogravure of Dr. Jdkai. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative . . . . $1.50 

This is an exceedingly interesting romance, the scene of 
which is laid at the courts of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and 
Vienna, and in the armies of the Austrians and Hungarians. 
It follows the fortunes of three young Hungarian noblernen, 
whose careers are involved in the historical incidents of the 
time. 


Pretty Hichal : A Romance of Hungary. Au- 
thorized translation by R. Nisbet Bain. With a photo- 
gravure frontispiece of the great Magyar writer. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative .... $1.50 

“ It is at once a spirited tale of ‘ border chivalry,’ a charming love 
story full of genuine poetry, and a graphic picture of life in a coun- 
try and at a period both equally new to English readers.” — Literary 
World. 

nidst the Wild Carpathians. Authorized 

translation by R. Nisbet Bain. With a frontispiece by J. 
W. Kennedy. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative . . . . $1.25 

A thrilling historical Hungarian novel, in which the extraor- 
dinary dramatic and descriptive powers of the great Magyar 
writer have full play. As a picture of feudal life in Hungary 
it has never been surpassed for fidelity and vividness. 

The Corsair King, a tale of the Buccaneers. 

Large i6mo, cloth, decorative . . . . $1.00 

The Buccaneer adventures are very stirring. The love 
story is a thread of beauty and delicacy, woven in and out a 
few times in the coarser woof of this rough sea atmosphere. 
One leaves the book with the sense that he has actually been 
for awhile in the midst of a corsair’s life of the olden time, — 
felt its fascinations and found its retributions. 


6 


L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


WORKS OF 

PAULINE BRADFORD MACKIE 
The Washingtonians. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, deckle-edge 

paper, with a frontispiece by Philip R. Goodwin . $1.50 

Pauline Bradford Mackie’s new novel deals with Washing- 
ton official society in the early sixties. The plot is based upon 
the career (not long since ended) of a brilliant and well-known 
woman, who was at that time a power in official circles. 

riademoiselle de Berny : a story of valley 

Forge. With five full-page photogravures from drawings 
by Frank T. Merrill. 

One vol., library 1 2mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.50 

“ The charm of ‘ Mademoiselle de Berny ’ lies in its singular 
sweetness.” — Boston Herald. 

“One of the very few choice American historical stories.” — Bos- 
ton Transcript. 

Ye Lyttle Salem JTaide : A Story of Witch- 
craft. With four full-page photogravures from drawings 
by E. W. D. Hamilton. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.50 

A tale of the days of the reign of superstition in New Eng- 
land, and of a brave “ lyttle maide,” of Salem Town, whose 
faith and hope and unyielding adherence to her word of 
honor form the basis of a most attractive story. A very con- 
vincing picture is drawn of Puritan life during the latter part 
of the seventeenth century. 

A Georgian Actress. 

Illustrated by E. W. D. Hamilton. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, gilt top . . . $1.50 

A historical novel dealing with the life of the early settlers 
in the Mohawk Valley, just before the Revolution. From the 
strange life in the wilderness the ambitious girl is transplanted 
to the gay life of the court of George III. and becomes famous 
as an actress in Garrick’s company. 


LIST OF FICTION 


1 


WORKS OF 

MARSHALL SAUNDERS 

Deficient Saints. A Tale of Maine. 

Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . ^1.50 

In this, her latest story, Marshall Saunders follows closely 
the fortunes of a French family whose history is bound up 
with that of the old Pine-tree State. These French people 
become less and less French until, at last, they are Americans, 
intensely loyal to their State and their country. Although 
“ Deficient Saints ” is by no means a historical novel, frequent 
references are made to the early romantic history of Maine. 

Her Sailor. 

With a frontispiece by H. C. Ireland. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . $1.25 

“ ‘ Her Sailor ’ is a charming story of the love affair of an 
American girl and a sailor ... a story of absorbing interest.” — 
Grand Rapids Herald. 

“ A real love story, refreshing and sweet, as every reader will find 
it.” — Utica Herald. 

“It is clean and wholesome, with the smell of the salt sea.” — 
Omaha Bee. 

“ . . . A fine character sketch and an entertaining story.” — 
Chicago Bookseller. 

Rose a Charlitte. An Acadien Romance. 
Illustrated by H. De M. Young. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth, decorative cover . . $1.25 
“ A very fine novel. We unhesitatingly pronounce it . . . one of 
the books that stamp themselves at once upon the imagination, and 
remain imbedded in the memory long after the covers are closed.” 
— Literary World, Boston. 

“ As skilful a character study as it is an effective development of 
a natural and yet imaginative plot. It is an unusually sweet and 
wholesome story, full of spirit, and written in a remarkably choice 
style.” — The Congregationalist, Boston. 


8 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


WORKS. OF 

GABRIELE D^ANNUNZIO 

“The writer of the greatest promise to-day in Italy, and perhaps 
one of the most unique figures in contemporary literature, is 
Gabriele d’Annunzio, the poet-novelist.” — The Bookman. 

“ This book is realistic. Some say that it is brutally so. But the 
realism is that of Flaubert, and not of Zola. There is no plain 
speaking for the sake of plain speaking. Every detail is justified in 
the fact that it illuminates either the motives or the actions of the 
man and woman who here stands revealed. It is deadly true. The 
author holds the mirror up to nature, and the reader sees his own 
experiences duplicated in passage after passage. — Review of The 
Triumph of Death in the New York Evening Sun. 

Signor d’Annunzio is known throughout the world as a poet 
and a dramatist, but above all as a novelist, for it is in his 
novels that he is at his best. 

He is engaged on a most ambitious work — nothing less 
than the writing of nine novels which cover the whole field of 
human sentiment. This work he has divided into three trilo- 
gies, and five of the nine books have been published. It is to 
be regretted that other labors have interrupted the completion 
of the series. 

The volumes published are as follows. Each i vol., 

library izmo, cloth $1.50 

THE ROMANCES OF THE ROSE 

The Child of Pleasure (II Piacere). 

The Intruder (L’Innocente). 

The Triumph of Death (II Trionfo della 
Morte). 

THE ROMANCES OF THE LILY 
The Maidens of the Rocks (Le Vergini 

DELLE ROCCE). 

THE ROMANCES OF THE POMEGRANATE 
The Flame of Life. (Il fuoco). 


LIST OF FICTION 


9 


PAGERS COMMONWEALTH SERIES 

Each I vol, large i6mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely il- 
lustrated $1.25 

No. I (Massachusetts) — 

Her Boston Experiences. By Anna farquhar 
(Margaret Allston). 

“ The first book for Bostonians to read is ‘ Her Boston Experi- 
ences.’ It will do them good.” — The Literary World. 

“ The book is really enormously clever.” — Boston Times. 

No. 2 (Virginia) — 

A Sunny Southerner. By julia magruder, 

author of “ A Magnificent Plebeian,” “ The Princess 
Sonia,” etc. 

A charming love story, the scene of which is laid in the 
Virginia of to-day. The plot revolves about two principal 
characters, a Southern heroine and a Northern hero ; and the 
story is written in the author’s usual clever style. 

No. 3 (Maine) — 

’Lias’s Wife. By Martha Baker Dunn, author of 
“ Memory Street,” etc. 

There is the direct appeal of a story that has been really 
lived in this charming novel of Maine life. One essential 
merit of the book is its reproduction of the genuine New Eng- 
land atmosphere, with innumerable idioms quaintly delight- 
ful to encounter. The humor is pervasive and delicate, the 
pathetic touches equally effective. 

No. 4 (District of Columbia) — 

Her Washington Experiences. By Anna 

Farquhar, author of “ The Devil’s Plough,” etc. 

There has been no cleverer book published this season than 
“ Her Washington Experiences.” The Cabinet member’s 
wife, through whose eyes we are given a glimpse into Wash- 
ington society, has a vision delightfully true and clear; her 
impressions of the city as a whole, compared in character with 
other places, are well worth reading for their epigrammatic 
brilliancy and apt contrasts. 


lO 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


SOME RECENT HCTION 

La.UrieI. the love letters of an American Girl. 
By « A. H.” 

We are not at liberty yet to announce the name of the 
author, who is, however, well known in this country. 

With a portrait frontispiece in photogravure. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top ^1.50 

“ The sincere and unaffected charm of these letters from the pen 
of a genuine American girl cannot fail to give them an influence 
which mere love letters could never exert.” — From a Letter to the 
Publishers. 

Jarvis of Harvard. By Reginald Wright Kauff- 

MANN. Illustrated by Robert Edwards. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative . . . . $1.50 

A strong and well-written novel, true to a certain side of the 
college atmosphere, not only in the details of athletic life, but 
in the spirit of college social and society circles. The local 
color appeals not only to Harvard men, but to their rivals, the 
loyal sons of Yale, Pennsylvania, and Princeton. 

Mr. Kauffman is also especially at home in his descriptions 
of the society doings of the smart set in Philadelphia. 

Arline Vale re. a realistic novel of modern New York. 
By Joseph Hallworth. 

Large 1 2mo, illustrated, cloth decorative . . . ^1.50 

This book, containing over one hundred pen and ink 
sketches by the author, is altogether a unique production in 
the history of book-making, being a facsimile reproduction of 
the author’s original manuscript. 

Mr. Hallworth has done for the slums of New York what 
Dickens did for London. 

Winefred. A Story of the Chalk Cliffs. By S. 
Baring-Gould, author of “ Mehala,” etc. Illustrated. 
Library i2mo, cloth decorative . . . . ^1.50 

A striking novel of English life in the eighteenth century 
by this well-known writer. The scene is laid partly in rural 
Devonshire and partly in aristocratic London circles. 


LIST OF FICTION 


II 


The Golden Fleece. Translated from the French of 
Amddde Achard, by Pauline Carrington Bouve:, author 
of “ Their Shadows Before.” Illustrated by Victor A. 
Searles. 

One vol., library 1 2mo, cloth decorative . . . $1.50 

Am^dee Achard was a contemporary writer of Dumas, and 
“ The Golden Fleece ” compares favorably with “ The Three 
Musketeers ” and the other D’Artagnan romances. The story 
relates the adventures of a young Gascon gentleman, an officer 
in the army sent by Louis XIV. to assist the Austrians in 
repelling the Turkish Invasion under the celebrated Achmet 
Kiuperli. 

Ada Vernham, Actress. By Richard marsh, 

author of “ Frivolities,” “ Tom Ossington’s Ghost,” etc. 

One vol., library i2mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . $1.50 

This book deals with the inside life of the London stage. 
The character of the heroine is wonderfully drawn, and the 
story of her .struggles and successes is of absorbing interest. 
Mr. Marsh is to be congratulated upon a book which will be 
widely discussed, and which will serve to increase the popu- 
larity of this able writer. 

Edward Barry \ south Sea pearler. By Louis 
Becke, author of “ By Reef and Palm,” “ Ridan, the 
Devil,” etc. 

With six full-page illustrations by H. C. Edwards. 

Library 1 2mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.50 

An exceedingly interesting story of sea life and adventure, 
the scene of which is laid in the Lagoon Islands of the North- 
west Pacific. 

The hero, Edward Barry, becomes the mate of a small brig, 
engaged in the pearl fisheries. He soon learns that the cap- 
tain and most of the crew are a set of rascals, little better than 
pirates, who have seized the brig, after murdering her rightful 
master. Barry’s efforts to thwart their further plans, the ap- 
pearance on the scene of the inevitable woman, to whose pro- 
tection he devotes himself, his desperate counterplot and his 
final triumph, combine to form a story of great power and 
interest. 


12 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY 


My Strangest Case. By guy boothby, author 

of “Doctor Niccola,” “That Beautiful White Devil,” etc. 
With eight full-page illustrations. 

Library 1 2 mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.50 

As the title indicates, “ My Strangest Case ” is a detective 
story. It has to do with buried treasures stolen by three ad- 
venturers from the ruined palace of a forgotten city in China. 
From the East the scene shifts to London, Paris, and Italy. 
The hero proves himself to be a second Sherlock Holmes in 
acumen and sang-froid ; and the story holds one’s interest to 
the last. 

A Gentlewoman of the Slums. Being the 

Autobiography of a Charwoman, as chronicled by Annie 
Wakeman, with six drawings by “ Rip.” 

■ Library i2mo, cloth decorative, gilt top . . . $1.50 

The book is a triumph of literary skill. It is full of human 
nature, ^nd pulsates with life. In combined pathos and humor 
the character of Betty Dobbs affects the best traits in the 
reader’s nature with a strong and lasting appeal. 


The Black Terror. A Romance of Russia. By 
John K. Leys. With a frontispiece by Victor A. Searles. 
Library 12 mo, cloth decorative* . . . . $1.50 

A stirring tale of the present day, presenting in a new light 
the aims and objects of the Nihilists. The story is so vivid 
and true to life that it might easily be considered a history of 
political intrigue in Russia, disguised as a novel, while its 
startling incidents and strange denouement would only confirm 
the old adage that “ truth is stranger than fiction.” 


Via Lucis. By Kassanda Vivaria. (Magda Stuart 
Sindici.) With portrait of the author. 

Library i2mo, cloth decorative . . . . $1.50 

A story of deep and passionate heart interests, of fierce 
loves and fiercer hates, of undisciplined natures that work out 
their own bitter destiny of woe. 





















